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THE SECRET OF 
SUCCESSFUL LIFE 

WILLIAM W. McLANE, D. D., Ph.D. 
Author of "Evolution in Religion," etc. 




BOSTON 

THE GORHAM PRESS 

MCMXVIII 



Copyright, 1918, by Richard G. Badger 
All Rights Reserved 



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MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



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PREFACE 

*T* HE science of life is the supreme science. The 
art of living is the finest of fine arts. One who 
knows what is essentially good, and gains it, and 
who knows also what is of permanent value, and ac- 
quires it, possesses that science, and practices the art 
of living. 

Men wish success in life. Men seek such things 
as gratify desire, save from suffering, and give a 
sense of security and the joy of possessing power. 

One who studies himself must know that his real 
life, his pleasure and his power alike, consists in 
feeling, affection, thought, desire, choice, and power 
of action. What adds to these, increases life ; what 
lessens these, destroys life. 

Whatever will make a man normal in feeling, 
sweet in spirit, pure in affection, clean in imagina- 
tion, vigorous in thought, wise in choice, calm in 
contentions, serene in storms, brave in danger, pa- 
tient under provocation, resolute in disappointment, 
constant in purpose, and hopeful of the future, is of 
extreme value in the promotion of life. 

"Know thyself" is an old Greek proverb. One 
may well begin to learn the way of life by a study 
of himself. Man should heed his deepest hunger. 
He should give hospitality to his highest desire. He 
should accept and cultivate his most intimate and 
enduring relations. 

Man is a soul. He has a body. He exists in re- 
lationship. He lives in a state whose laws are bio- 



4 Preface 

logical and must be interpreted by the action of 
vital laws. 

Fifty years ago, an eminent teacher of theology 
was accustomed to give as the method of study this 
formula: "Is there a God? Has God spoken? 
What has God said?" A more modern and a more 
scientific method of procedure would follow this 
method of inquiry: "Is there a man? Has man 
spoken — and spoken out of his heart? Has an an- 
swer come to man from the heart of God?" 

Therefore, in the following pages, the reader is 
directed to the study of man himself, to those evi- 
dent laws under which man lives, to the cry of the 
human heart, and to the answer which has come and 
still comes to that cry. 

Human life viewed in various aspects is a pang, 
a prayer, a promise, and a prophecy. 

W. W. M. 

Leominster, Mass., 
January, 1 91 8. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I Hunger 9 

II Bread 24 

III Growth 39 

IV Man's Place in Nature 58 

V Cooperation 79 

VI The Incarnation 94 

VII The New Birth 117 

VIII Love as an Atmosphere 137 

IX Faith 151 

X Obedience 169 

XI Neglect 186 

XII Eternal Life 202 



THE SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL LIFE 



The 

Secret of Successful Life 

CHAPTER I 

Hunger 

A STONE never hungers. A stone never grows. 
^^ Hunger belongs to life. The quality of hunger 
is an index of the grade of life. 

In the city of Naples, on the shore of the beauti- 
ful bay, is an excellent aquarium. One day, in this 
aquarium, standing by a glass tank, I saw in the wa- 
ter what looked like fine sea-weed with stem, branch 
and frond. As I looked with admiration on this 
beautiful form, I saw one slender branch and then 
another, touched by no breath of air or wavelet of 
water, shoot out slowly like an arm, close like 
a hand, and then draw back again having grasped 
something which was invisible to me. I knew by 
that one action that the object on which I looked 
was not a plant but an animal. That one act re- 
vealed a certain dim consciousness and automatic 
power, lifted the seeming plant out of the kingdom 
of vegetable life into the kingdom of animal life and 
showed to me its kinship with birds and beasts and 
even with myself. I had found a remote and lowly 
cousin. 

On the shore of the sea at low tide, one may see 
what look like acorns or brown buds clinging to the 
rock. When the tide comes in bringing delicate 
jelly fish and atoms of animal substance, these brown 

9 



io The Secret of Successful Life 

buds open, like the petals of a flower, and throw out 
tentacles which grasp minute portions of animal sub- 
stance and enclose them, giving evidence thereby 
that they feed on organic matter, as animals feed, 
and not on inorganic matter, as plants feed. The 
food which these anemones crave and eat, indicates 
the grade of their life. 

Naturalists say that the first expression and indi- 
cation of animal life is irritability or sensitiveness to 
impressions, as a hand is sensitive to a substance 
which may be touched, or as an eye is sensitive to 
sunlight. One may also say that the first distinct 
consciousness of animal life is hunger and that the 
first volitional act of animal life is search for food. 
That old woman who lying on her death-bed was 
asked by her pastor what she had enjoyed most in 
life, and who promptly replied, "My vittles," ex- 
pressed the basal desire and the primal satisfaction 
of every animal. Had this woman risen higher dur- 
ing her long years of life, she might have stated 
something other than "vittles" as giving most satis- 
faction; but, in any event, it would have been the 
gratification of some hunger. Hunger is the first 
and the most imperative appetite of every body. 
Hunger is the first and most permanent passion of 
every mind. The gratification of hunger by ap- 
propriate food is the condition of bodily growth and 
of mental development. It is likewise the condition 
of individual satisfaction. 

If the plant-like animal which I saw in the aquar- 
ium had failed to find food, it would have drooped 
and died. It might have been surrounded by min- 



Hunger 1 1 

eral substances on which plants feed, but its inherent 
incapacity to convert mineral substance into living 
tissue, and its inability to find its own kind of food, 
would have doomed it to speedy death. 

Every living creature must find the kind and the 
quality of food upon which its own nature may feed 
and be satisfied if it attains perfection and even if 
it continues to live. 

Protozoa which multiply by gemination or divis- 
ion, hunger simply for food; with food supplied 
each protozoan reaches the limit of its possibilities. 
But in all higher forms of animal life, the sexual 
nature desires association and correspondence with 
the opposite sex. It should be noted, also, that there 
is a hunger whose source is not in the body but in 
the soul, which craves not physical food but spiritual 
communion, which expresses itself in the longing of 
love and which is satisfied only by being loved. 

In the animal kingdom below man, hunger seems 
limited, mainly, to those desires which bear relation 
to the preservation of the individual and to the per- 
petuation of the species. I say, mainly, because 
there is some love of beauty and of music to be found 
below the grade of mankind. 

Man, however, for whom many definitions have 
been given, may be described as a hunger — growing, 
vast, well-nigh insatiable. Hunger is the spring of 
the manifold activities of man. Labor is performed 
and endured in the hope that some hunger may be 
satisfied by labor's product. Some may think that 
men labor to give outlet and expression to an inher- 
ent energy, but until men have acquired a habit of 



12 The Secret of Successful Life 

work, little work is done save in hope that there 
will be a reward in some personal satisfaction. Few 
persons enjoy solitaire. The zest of play increases 
in games where there is a possibility of victory, with 
its accompaniment of praise. Men toil for bread, 
for shelter, for the comfort of pleasant surroundings, 
for the gratification of esthetic tastes and for the 
means of securing and preserving love. The lust of 
possession, of place, and of power, has incited men 
to adventure and to war. 

What a history of labor, warfare, government, 
art, literature, and religion may be read by the 
traveler in the ruins, the monuments, the buildings, 
and the present products of men around the Medi- 
terranean sea. Men have invented instruments of 
labor; they have fashioned weapons of warfare; 
they have marched in phalanxes; they have fought 
battles for possession of lands; they have contended 
for praise of men; they have woven garments of 
beauty; they have built palaces of splendor; they 
have carved statues to delight the eye; they have 
sung songs to charm the ear; they have written 
essays and have printed books that the mind might 
be fed both with fiction and with truth; they have 
built altars and temples ; they have ordained priests ; 
they have offered sacrifices and conducted religious 
rituals that the troubled conscience might have peace 
and the struggling soul might have rest. All these 
manifold forms of production on the part of an 
inventive, active, and aggressive civilization have 
been for the purpose of feeding the hunger of the 
body and of slaking the thirst of the soul. They 



Hunger 13 

have been wrought in order that the life of which 
hunger is the cry might be complete. 

Sometimes labor has been misdirected ; sometimes 
labor has been expended for that which is not bread ; 
sometimes men have spent their gains for that which 
has not satisfied ; but the desires have been most 
natural and the effort has been most significant. He 
would be a singular and an unscientific man who 
should affirm that any hunger has no true signifi- 
cance and that what satisfies hunger may be a lie. 
Hunger is fundamentally a cry for what is good ; 
and that which really satisfies it is bread. 

Deep in the heart of humanity is a hunger, per- 
manent and persistent, which no material bread, 
no physical love, and no human ministry can satisfy. 
This is a hunger for God. It is a longing for the 
presence, the help, and the approval of the living 
and loving God. There may be individual men who 
have not felt this hunger or who, more likely, hav- 
ing felt, have not understood what it meant and 
what it asked. All men, however, feel dependence, 
weakness, and need. Some men, like a hungry child 
grasping greedily and finding that which is not 
bread, are vainly trying to satisfy themselves on 
material things and to renew their strength from 
physical sources, only to find at last that they are 
not satisfied, and sometimes to find that what they 
have eaten is not bread but poison. 

The witness of generations is better and more 
trustworthy than the opinion of individual men. 
That which belongs to men, as men, apart from 
learning, culture, and philosophical reasonings, is 



14 The Secret of Successful Life 

most true. The native instincts of the heart and 
soul are genuine and seek after reality. Men, as 
men, feel their need of God. Out of desert places 
where nomadic tribes wander, is the cry, "O that 
I knew where I might find Him." Out of the for- 
est where the hunter seeks his game, out of the sheep 
fold where the shepherd watches his flock, out of 
the tent where the soldier prepares himself for bat- 
tle, comes the cry, "My soul thirsteth for God, for 
the living God." In the ancient, oriental Veda one 
may read: "Thirst came upon the worshipper, 
though he stood in the midst of the waters." Even 
out of the waters, the thirsty lifted up his cry: "O 
hear this my calling, Varuna, be gracious now; 
longing for help, I have called upon Thee." How 
suggestive of deep spiritual truth is this language of 
oriental people! Though men live in the midst of 
waters, yet there is thirst. They are like sailors 
sailing or shipwrecked in a great ocean with water 
all about them, still thirsting because that water 
cannot slake thirst nor sustain life, still crying out 
for the fresh water which the clouds of heaven may 
give that they may drink and live. 

This cry of mankind does not cease. Whether it 
is expressed in a sigh or in a song, by sacrifice or by 
prayer, it is uttered in every land, it is heard in 
every language, it is repeated in every age. 

Dr. Eastman narrating the ways of his people, the 
American Indians, says: At dawn an Indian will 
take his stand alone on the prairie or on a hilltop and 
silently, adoringly, trustfully lifting his face towards 
the suiirise, will seek the blessing of the invisible 



Hunger 1 5 

Spirit of life. 

On Huntington Avenue, Boston, in front of the 
Museum of Fine Arts, is a bronze statue of an 
Indian sitting on a barebacked horse, motionless, si- 
lent, with uplifted face craving communion with 
God. This statue in such a place is suggestive of 
the fact that to the modern man whose product is 
the highest art, as to the primitive man whose frail 
products soon pass away, light, inspiration, skill, 
and power have their true source not in man himself, 
but in the creative spirit whom we call God. 

As we trace the history of nations recorded on 
coins, in monuments, and in literature, we find 
everywhere the symbols and the record of religion. 
Images of deities abound; granite temples are ex- 
humed from the sands of Egypt; rude stone altars 
were built on the rocky hills of Palestine ; the beau- 
tiful ruin of the Parthenon crowns the acropolis of 
Athens ; the Pantheon stands in the heart of Rome ; 
stories of the worship of the Druids adorn the classic 
page of Tacitus; the traditional mythology of the 
Northmen awakens profound interest; prayers, 
hymns, and discussions of the deep things of the soul 
are found in the literature of the farthest East. 
Plutarch has said : "If we traverse the world, it is 
possible to find cities without walls, without letters, 
without kings, without wealth, without coin, with- 
out schools, and without theatres; but a city with- 
out a temple, or that practiseth not worship, prayers, 
and the like, no one ever saw." 

Writers on the customs of primitive men tell us 
that though such men are likely to be reticent on 



1 6 The Secret of Successful Life 

the subject of religion and their manner of devotion, 
yet they have found no tribe without some sign or 
emblem of worship. The signs may be "crude, vague, 
and even vain; but they are there. Modern trav- 
elers would seek in vain for a land where there is 
no church spire, no temple, no priesthood, and no 
worship. All missionary propaganda would be an 
utter failure were there nothing in the mind and 
the heart of the men approached to respond to what 
the missionaries teach. 

All the most important events among civilized na- 
tions are sanctified by religious ceremonies. Mar- 
riage, birth followed by circumcision or christening, 
the burial of the dead, the ritual of secret societies, 
the inauguration of governors and presidents, the 
coronation of kings and emperors, the opening of 
parliaments and international conventions, are hal- 
lowed by religious rites. Any custom which per- 
sistently abides among men has some reality as its 
basis and the continuance of any custom is evidence 
of its value to men. 

In the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in 
New York City is a room devoted to the collec- 
tion of musical instruments. These instruments are 
of all sorts and from many lands. There are rude 
horns, hollow reeds, wind instruments of great va- 
riety, stringed instruments with two or more strings, 
harpsichords, old pianos and drums. A man who 
has heard the best of pianos played by Paderewski, 
the finest of violins played by Kreisler, and who has 
listened to the singing of Caruso, may find no mu- 
sic in the blast of a ram's horn, in the shrill notes 



Hunger 17 

of a rude flute, or in the reverbations of a drum; 
nevertheless, these rude instruments are symbols of 
a musical nature and a visible evidence of the real- 
ity of music and of its value to men. In like man- 
ner, the altars, temples, and ceremonies of religion, 
however crude they may be, are mute witnesses to 
the religious nature of mankind. 

A man of unbroken health, of great physical ener- 
gy, of constant application to material business, and 
of constant success therein, possibly may feel that 
religion has no place in his life and that his nature 
has no need of God. I say "possibly," for I do not 
know that there is such a man. I never have met 
him. But, if there is such a man, his unawakened 
religious nature would be no more a proof of the 
unreality of religion than the lack of ear and of 
musical sensibility on the part of one man would dis- 
prove music as a feeling and as an art; or than 
color blindness in one person would prove the ab- 
sence of color in the universe. A friend of one of 
the greatest singers, a prima donna of the last cen- 
tury, said: "I never have perceived in A — the 
least interest in the higher problems of mankind — 
in science, politics, religion, not even in belles let- 
tres/' But the absence of interest in these things 
on the part of one woman highly gifted in one art, 
did not remove them from human life, or lessen 
their vital interest to multitudes of men. 

Coins are an evidence of commerce; musical in- 
struments are symbols of the musical nature of men ; 
marriage is a witness of man's need of communion 
with his kind in the mingling of love and life; re- 



1 8 The Secret of Successful Life 

ligious ceremonies are outward and visible signs of 
an inward craving on the part of man for fellowship 
with God. Eucken in his work on The Problem of 
Humanity has said: "Life assumes the character 
of a yearning that soars above everything the world 
has to offer." A modern philosopher has said: 
"Not to feel evils is the greatest of all evils." 

The worst lack which any man could have, would 
be to have no hunger. Everywhere, hunger is the 
primal condition, the sine qua non both of knowl- 
edge and of growth. The new-born babe instictive- 
ly seeks the mother's breast and through that breast 
finds the mother to be the fountain of life, the 
shelter of love, the heart of comfort, the soul of 
sympathy, and the source of strength through needy 
years. Beginning with physical hunger and mate- 
rial supply, a babe growing to manhood learns to 
know the mother's heart and soul through the rich 
supplies of her love. A man coming to the period 
of adolescence finds it not good to be alone. He 
hungers for the love of a mate. He finds in mutual 
love which issues in marriage, one of the chief con- 
summations of human relationship. 

Now, hunger for God, a hunger which craves for- 
giveness when there is consciousness of sin, favor 
when there is need of friendship, strength when 
there is weakness, comfort when there is sorrow, 
and hope of life when the shadow of death falls, is 
the one great, growing hunger in the heart of man 
which no bread springing from earth can satisfy and 
which no ministry proceeding from human hearts 
can meet* 



Hunger 19 

John Fiske in his work, Through Nature to God, 
has said: "Of all the implications of the doctrine 
of evolution with regard to man, I believe the very 
deepest and strongest to be that which asserts the 
everlasting reality of religion." Professor Carpen- 
ter in his work on Mental Philosophy has said: 
"The only sound basis for religion consists in man's 
own religious consciousness; since it is impossible 
that any revelation should make a man religious 
whose inner nature does not respond to its teachings, 
as that any instruction should make a man a mu- 
sician, who has not a musical ear." Saint Augus- 
tine uttered a great truth when in addressing God 
he said: "Thou madest us for Thyself and the 
heart is restless till it rests in Thee." It is true 
that even in the pursuit of religion, men may spend 
their money for that which is not bread and their 
labor for that which does not satisfy ; but the pursuit 
evinces the hunger, and the labor shows the will- 
ingness of men to make effort to find the bread of 
life. In the thought of men altars are a way of 
approach unto God, sacrifices are means of securing 
divine favor, priests are agents for intercession, pray- 
ers have power to bring divine help. Where un- 
worthy means of approach to God are used, or 
where worthy means are used in a mistaken mode, 
nevertheless, they attest man's conscious need of 
God. Failure in the means or in the method 
of approaching God, may suggest the necessity of 
a revelation and a gift of grace from God to man 
in order that there may be true knowledge, pure 
worship, and eternal life. 



20 The Secret of Successful Life 

No man will know himself aright or gain real 
success in life unless he gives heed to his hunger. A 
superficial hunger, which is some craving of the 
flesh, never should be permitted to suppress the deep- 
er hunger, which is a craving of the spirit. The 
hunger for bread which comes from earth never 
should be permitted to become so imperative as to 
make one forget the hunger for bread which comes 
from heaven. It is natural for a babe to hunger first 
for the milk which flows from a mother's breast ; but 
it would be pitiful and painful, if in all the years of 
life a child never should hunger for the love which 
flows from a mother's heart. That child would be 
abnormal, incomplete, and unworthy who never 
should know, or trust, or be grateful for a mother's 
love. It is natural for a man to seek that bread 
which will satisfy any physical or mental hunger; 
but that man is abnormal, incomplete, and unworthy 
who never feels, or trusts, or praises, the love of 
God. 

It takes air as well as water, sunshine as well as 
soil, heaven as well as earth, to produce a flower 
with fine form, vivid color, and sweet fragrance. In 
like manner, it takes not only earth and men but 
the light of truth, the warmth of love, and com- 
munion of the Spirit of God to make and perfect 
a man. 

You will do irrevocable injustice to yourself and 
you will insure failure instead of success in life, if 
you do not heed the craving of your heart, give place 
to conscience, and obey those impulses which prompt 
you to seek communion with the living God. Many 



Hunger 21 

fail not by the choice, at first, of things which are 
wicked and worthless, but by putting things good 
in themselves and in their place before things which 
are better and which are essential to a complete 
character. By the choice of something good in itself 
but not the highest good, men lose the best. Many 
persons, for the sake of something which they wish 
very much at the time, somether the cry of the heart, 
silence the voice of conscience, grieve the Spirit of 
God, and fail of eternal life. This is just what 
Jesus saw and against which he warned men. Jesus 
bade men heed the deeper things of their own nature 
and put the higher things of life first. He charged 
men not to make material good a matter of first im- 
portance. He warned them against the danger of 
keeping the thought fixed on things to eat and to 
wear. He called them to seek first the kingdom 
of heaven. He urged them to love and to do good. 
He commanded them to trust God. He assured 
them that the things needed for the lower life would 
be given them. He said that the higher life is of such 
value to the world and of such worth in the sight 
of God that, as the lilies are clothed in beauty and 
the birds are bountifully fed, all needed supplies 
are given to God's spiritual children. 

Men err by reversing the order of Jesus. Men 
place the demand for bread for the body first and 
bid the soul wait till a later time. The result is 
that, as an appetite may be lost — an appetite for 
bread, an appetite for music, an appetite for love — 
so the hunger and the desire for God may die. This 
is lamentable. 



22 The Secret of Successful Life 

A moment's thought will convince you that man 
is a dependent creature. He is unable to live with- 
out air, unable to expand in thought without the 
touch of other minds, unable to become complete 
without love. 

The life of a man absolutely depends on some 
power greater than himself and greater than his 
fellow men. And where should the creature of a 
day rest rather than upon the Eternal? Where 
should the weak seek and find strength rather than 
in the Strong? Where should the imperfect look 
for completion rather than to the Source of perfec- 
tion? Where should he whose life so easily fails 
turn for immortality rather than to Him whose life 
is self-existent and everlasting? 

And where else should God who is a spirit in 
essence and love in quality, deign to dwell rather 
than in the human heart? If God is in the universe 
creating, keeping, clothing, and beautifying things 
inanimate, things without intelligence, without con- 
science, without love which can never know Him 
and never love Him, how much more should He 
dwell lovingly and graciously with human souls 
which feel their need of Him and which give Him 
love and praise? "Neither stars, nor sea, nor smil- 
ing nature hold God so intimately as the bosom of 
the soul. ,, In the soul itself, a sense of dependence, 
of emptiness, of yearning for approval, of longing 
for favor and love may grow into a great hunger 
which voices itself in the language of the psalmist: 
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so 
panteth my soul after Thee, O God." The testi- 



Hunger 23 

mony of those who have thus cried, in all ages, is to 
the effect that God hears the cry of the hungry, 
answers the need of the distressed, impresses the kiss 
of forgiveness upon the contrite, and renews the 
strength of the soul which waits on Him. 

The witness of all past generations agrees in the 
instruction given to the men of each succeeding gen- 
eration. 'Tut thou thy trust in the Lord, and be 
doing good; leave off from wrath, and let go dis- 
pleasure, else shalt thou be moved to do evil. Com- 
mit thy way unto the Lord and put thy trust in 
Him. He shall make thy righteousness as clear as 
the light, and thy just dealing as the noonday." 

Jesus teaches that hunger is the condition of sat- 
isfaction; that humility is the condition of exalta- 
tion; that poverty is the condition of possessing 
wealth. Let, then, a sense of sin impel you to seek 
forgiveness; let a sense of weakness lead you to the 
source of strength; let sorrow find a fountain of 
comfort; let fear of death lead you to Him who 
gives eternal life. Any condition or circumstance in 
life which awakens a longing for the knowledge of 
God and for communion with Him is a blessing. 
The history of mankind, personal experience, and 
the deep sense of need in the heart itself, all assert 
man's dependence upon God unto whom man's de- 
sire should flow. Therefore, in making an inven- 
tory of your assets, do not fail to include your 
hunger. That of all things may prove the condition 
of a perfect life. Jesus has said: "Blessed are they 
that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they 
shall be filled. ,, 



CHAPTER II 

Bread 

A FEW years since, in the city of New York, on 
^*One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Street, in a 
hall used for an exhibit of the effects of tuberculosis 
and the means of its prevention, was a sign with this 
inscription: "You can live three weeks without 
bread ; you can live three days without water ; you 
can live three minutes without air." This sign was, 
approximately, correct in its time measurements; it 
was entirely correct in its truth. A man may live a 
little longer without bread than without air; but 
bread, as well as air, is essential to the continuance 
of life. 

Ben Akbar halted his camel in the desert whither 
he had wandered apart from his caravan. He lifted 
his eyes and, faint from hunger and thirst, looked 
longingly over the billowy sands glowing like gold 
in the level rays of the slowly sinking sun. The 
strength of his camel was spent and Ben Akbar 
knew that his own thirst would leave him prostrate 
and dying before another day would close. He sur- 
veyed the horizon, sweeping almost the entire cir- 
cumference of the visible circle without seeing any 
sign of life. He was ready to surrender himself to 
certain death when, in the southeast, he saw dimly 
against the sky, dark tufts which his keen eye knew 
to be the crest of palm trees. Ben Akbar with a 
glad heart urged his weary beast forward encour- 

24 



Bread 25 

aging him with a voice of hope. As the sun sank 
and twilight deepened, he arrived at an oasis with 
its fountain of water, its palms, and its fruit. Ben 
Akbar dismounted from his kneeling camel, threw 
himself prostrate in prayer, and then lifting his eyes 
heavenward in gratitude exclaimed, "Allah, I thank 
Thee." He had found the water and the bread 
which would sustain life. 

On the plains of Egypt, I have seen lines of veiled 
women wending their way to streams fed from the 
Nile to find water for their daily need. The trav- 
eler in Palestine may see women leaving a village 
and ascending a hill where there is a spring, or 
descending into a valley where there is a well, to 
draw water for household use. 

One of the most pathetic sights in a great city 
is a bread line of men out of work, standing at the 
hour of midnight by a great bakery to receive the 
loaf of bread offered each man in line. Many 
things these men may do without. Bread they 
must have, or die. Shelter may be of the slightest, 
clothing may be of the poorest, and in some climates 
these could be dispensed with altogether; but bread 
men must have. Bread and water are necessaries. 
They are the indispensable substances on the table 
of the poor. They are the essence of every feast on 
the table of the rich. The most sumptuous banquet 
may be varied, beautifully decorated, highly colored, 
and finely flavored ; but, in its base, it is just bread 
and water. 

There are other men athirst besides travelers who 
like Ben Akbar thirst in a desert. There are other 



26 The Secret of Successful Life 

lines of needy women besides those who seek water in 
Egypt or Palestine. There are other lines of men 
quite as impressive and as significant as the bread 
line at midnight in a great city. 

The long lines of pilgrims to Benares, to Mecca, 
and to Jerusalem; the lines of men and women 
threading the streets to the cathedrals of Rome, 
Milan, and Paris; the lines of worshippers filing 
into churches in cities, towns, and villages on Sun- 
day, are suggestive and significant. All these peo- 
ple are seeking something. They are seeking some- 
thing for the soul. It may be said that worshippers 
frequently have beeen ignorant ; that they have been 
superstitious; that their conceptions of the Deity 
have been gross; that the means they have used 
to obtain a blessing have been fanciful and fictitious, 
and all this may be granted; but a conscious want 
was there. They have sought after God. They 
have sought ignorantly, if you please, but they have 
sought after God, if haply they might find Him. The 
ignorance and the darkness have been in them and 
not in God. But surely it is want and the search 
and the cry which God sees and knows and answers. 
Doubtless many an ignorant worshipper whose soul 
has felt its deep need, has been supplied with the 
grace which has ministered to his life. Many a 
man who knew not God intelligently will know, 
ultimately, that in reality he had found Him. God 
saw the need and heard the cry and answered. A 
mother does not wait for clear intelligence, correct 
language, and a courteous request before she will 
answer the cry of her child. Though the child be 



Bread 27 

but an infant crying in the night, "and with no 
language but a cry," yet the mother's ear will hear, 
her heart will answer, and her hand will help. If 
God should make clear knowledge, correct language, 
and good form the conditions of answering the need 
of such as seek Him, then, His love would be less 
than a mother's. 

Tehan, the Indian, speaking of his foster mother 
whose breast had been his refuge, whose teepee had 
been his home, and who had thrown her own garment 
around his shivering body, when in the cold winter 
their teepee had been burned and they had been 
driven into the wild by cruel white men, said of his 
hopes for her who worshipped the Great Mystery, 
impelled thereto because she felt her dependence and 
longed for help, "I cannot believe that the hunger 
of the heart is made for famine, but rather that a 
divine hand will stoop to satisfy." 

If the vision of the seer of Patmos is true, if 
tribes of every language worship around the throne 
of God, then, thus far in the world's history, God 
must have been hearing the cry, answering the 
prayer, and supplying the need of all who in sincerity 
have called upon Him. What are land, language, 
form of expression, and intellectual conception even 
in comparison with the inner spirit of craving and 
of devotion, of faith and of hope. A psalmist has 
said with exquisite truth: "The Lord is nigh unto 
all them who call upon Him, to all that call upon 
Him in truth." Surely this is in keeping with in- 
finite love. Religion would not remain in the world 
did it not bring relief to the troubled conscience 



28 The Secret of Successful Life 

and renewal of strength to the fainting heart. 

Worshippers in Christian churches who continu- 
ally seek to commune with God would be both ig- 
norant and foolish if year after year and generation 
after generation they continued a practice which 
affords no benefit. 

Men pursue nothing else which yields no pleas- 
ure and no profit. Granted that education from 
childhood, habit, and social concourse may have 
some influence in maintaining churches these alone 
would not suffice for their continuance. People do 
not go to church for entertainment, they can find 
that better elsewhere. They do not go for intellec- 
tual gain; the intellect, now has many means of 
gaining enjoyment and information. They do not 
go for social pleasure, they can enjoy their friends 
more elsewhere. The question often is asked, "Why 
do men not go to church?" The question had bet- 
ter be asked, "Why do men go to church ?" There 
is no other institution in country, village, and city 
which holds its place so continually and so firmly as 
the Christian church. It is because the soul is 
strengthened and the heart is fed that people attend 
the services of the church. People who hunger 
gather around a table and eat and know that their 
strength is renewed. People who are disheartened 
by adversity, hear the promise of some able person 
to come to their relief, and discouragement passes 
away and hope fills the heart. People who love mu- 
sic frequent a concert and listen to music and their 
souls are satisfied. In a like manner, people find 
that the worship of God and the promises of his 



Bread ' 29 

word revive faith, love, and hope in the heart, and 
that waiting on the Lord, they renew their strength 
and are satisfied. This experience is as real as any 
other experience in life. Any man who thinks for a 
moment knows well that faith, love, and hope are 
the great inner motives of the soul. What lessens 
them, makes a man weak; what strengthens them, 
makes a man strong. The response which comes to 
the man who waits upon God is a response which re- 
news a man's strength. 

The Christian Bible also answers to the need of 
man. It is a book much of which needs an inter- 
pretation; but it is a book whose revelation of di- 
vine love is so plain, whose promises are so definite, 
and whose precepts are so practical that it affords 
comfort, hope, and guidance to every man who be- 
lieves. The bible is not the same book to every 
man. The bible of one man may be bound in Rus- 
sian leather, with flexible back, gilt edges, and fair 
pages as clean as when it came from the bindery. To 
that man, the bible is ancient history and Jesus is a 
tradition. The bible of another man may have a 
broken back, thumbed pages, many pencil marks and 
the blisters of tears. To that man the words of 
the bible have been spirit and life. Through that 
book, some soul has found the fountain of living 
water, some heart has found the bread of life. The 
bible, like a well-spread table, affords to every age 
its appropriate food. From its pages, according to 
the time of life and the need of the heart, youth, 
manhood, and age find instruction and inspiration 
and comfort. 



30 The Secret of Successful Life 

Jesus has said that he who drinks at an earthly 
fountain will thirst again, but that he who partakes 
of the living water will find it to be in himself a 
continual source of refreshment and of power. They 
who have tried it have found Jesus' words true. 

We already have noticed that the lack of any 
hunger or desire for certain things, such as music 
or marriage, on the part of some persons does not 
disprove the existence of that hunger in other per- 
sons nor invalidate the reality of the source of its 
gratification. What is common to men everywhere, 
what is found among all races, what exists in all 
conditions must be a reality, even though there may 
be some individuals who know nothing of it. It 
is more just to call such individuals abnormal than 
to call the great mass of mankind abnormal. The 
hunger of the soul for spiritual light, love, and 
guidance, and the cry of the soul for God are 
evinced by all sacred monuments, by all liturgies, 
by all private devotions, and by the sacred scenes 
and sayings of all literature. 

Let it be noted that in the course of nature, there 
is no hunger, beneath the hunger of the soul for 
God, which does not find its appropriate bread. 
There is food to fill every physical hunger, beauty 
of form and color to delight and satisfy the eye, 
music to charm the ear, truth to sustain the mind, 
friendship to gratify craving for companionship, 
domestic love to rest the heart. Some creatures may 
be born without common desires or without the 
organs to gratify those desires, or they may fail to 
find what their nature craves, but these are excep- 



Bread 31 

tional creatures, defective or unfortunate. The 
normal rule of nature is that every hunger finds its 
food. Shall, then, the deepest hunger of man have 
no corresponding bread? Shall the highest desire 
of the human soul remain unsatisfied ? That would 
be a mockery of man so unspeakable and so disas- 
trous that for its existence man never could forgive 
nature or nature's Creator. God himself must an- 
swer the hunger of the soul. 

It is true that some persons want a God who 
provides chiefly for the body. Some are yet in the 
religious state of the primitive Israelites to whom 
promises of food, rainment, and material prosperity 
were of primal value. Some are babes in the life 
of the spirit. Some are only children in the higher 
life. But in the things of the spirit, as well as in 
the things of the mind, the highest character must 
be the best example of the true nature and the nor- 
mal possibilities of man. 

Jesus promises three things to men. They shall 
know the Father; they shall be free; they shall 
have power. They shall know God as the source of 
the most perfect purity and the most permanent 
peace. They shall be free from bondage to the lusts 
of the flesh, the customs of worldly society, and the 
domination of things. They shall have power to 
overcome evil, to exercise self-control, to do the will 
of God, and to gain greatness of character. The 
annals of Christian history contain a catalogue of 
a legion of men who have been set free from sen- 
suality, like Augustine; from timidity, like Peter; 
from self-righteousness, like Paul; from love of 



32 The Secret of Successful Life 

pleasure, like Francis of Assisi. The number who 
have been exalted in affection, purpose, and power, 
like Livingston, "Chinese" Gordon, William Booth, 
and many more would make an army. Let me has- 
ten to say that for every man who becomes distin- 
guished and known as a Christian hero, there are 
scores and thousands who in spirit find the same 
experiences and attain equal greatness of character, 
but whose position is such that their names are not 
published. Their names, however, are written in 
The Book of Life. It requires heaven as well as 
earth, sky as well as soil, sunshine as well as mineral 
substance, to produce and to perfect, physically, any 
life in this world. It is most natural, therefore, that 
it should require heaven as well as earth to perfect 
a man, and that which makes a man complete, is 
indeed bread. 

Jesus gives a threefold description of bread for the 
soul. In contrast with bread which springs from 
earth, he calls it Bread from Heaven. In contrast 
with every fair but false bread by which men try to 
satisfy the soul, he calls it True Bread. In contrast 
with every bread which leaves men to hunger again 
and again, he calls it Living Bread and Bread of 
Life. 

The soul of man must live by life. Man needs 
the light of a living personality to guide; he needs 
the warmth of personal love to quicken and expand 
his affections ; he needs the comfort of personal com- 
panionship to cheer and sustain; he needs the per- 
sonal inspiration of a divine presence and power to 
make him perfect. All that men need is revealed, 






Bread 33 

manifested, and mediated to men in Jesus, the 
Christ. He is the perfection of spiritual truth, 
the fulness of love, the source of inspiration. He is 
indeed the bread of life. 

Jesus gives to men who believe in Him a vivid 
conception of God's love and care, sweet submission 
to God's will, cheerful obedience to God's laws, rest 
in God's love, communion with God's strength, 
abiding hope in the fulness and constancy of God's 
goodness, and rich experience of God's grace. The 
spiritual inspiration and fulness of life which Jesus 
gives, keeps the moral intelligence clear, the con- 
science keen, the will strong, love ardent, courage 
constant, and hope bright. The man who is thus 
fed, is made sufficient for the conditions and the 
changes and the duties of life. In such a man faith, 
hope, and love ever abide. 

Jesus says: "If any man eat of this bread, he 
shall live forever." Professor Drummond has said: 
"One of the most startling achievements of recent 
science is a definition of Eternal Life." Science 
postulates eternal life as depending upon perfect 
correspondence with an eternal environment. Sci- 
ence, however, knows no way of obtaining such 
correspondence. Science cannot give eternal life. Sci- 
ence knows only those things which in themselves 
are subject to change. Science may indeed suggest 
the need of some eternal life with which man may 
come into correspondence, but it has no means of 
discovering or of revealing such a life. It is only 
spirit which can know spirit, and spiritual things 
must be spiritually discerned. Hence the necessity 



34 The Secret of Successful Life 

of man's consulting his own soul to know its needs 
and trusting his soul's instincts to find some source 
of supply for his needs. Jesus has given the com- 
pletest answer to the hunger of man's heart. Jesus 
reveals an eternal Spirit and shows the way of eter- 
nal life. Jesus says: "This is life eternal, that they 
might know Thee the true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom Thou has sent." The knowledge of God is 
used by Jesus in the Hebrew sense of the term. This 
is knowledge based on personal experience derived 
through communion. It is knowledge of the soul 
rather than of the intellect, of the affections rather 
than of the reason. But it is knowledge none the less 
true. This knowledge to him who possesses it, is 
eternal life. 

All life in this world is conditioned both as to 
its growth and as to its continuance. No form of 
life will grow without food — without an influx of 
that which sustains it. This is true of the body, of 
the mind, and of the affections. The body must 
eat to live; the mind must find truth to be strong; 
the heart must dwell in love. Who could remain 
loving if there were no person in all the universe to 
love him? The continuance of any life depends 
on its ability to keep in correspondence with that 
which maintains it. A man in the course of time 
loses his power to feed upon the things of earth. 
Science and Scripture both affirm that visible and 
tangible things are subject to change and will pass 
away. The present form of the universe will pass. 
If a man could continue in correspondence with it, 
nevertheless, he would at last cease to be. Jesus has 



Bread 35 

said that a soul may be in such correspondence with 
God who "hath immortality" that it may live for- 
ever. Saint John, the interpreter of Jesus, has said : 
"The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but 
he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.' , 
That is to say, both the outward form of visible 
things and the inward desire for them are transient 
and must pass; but God abides and the desire for 
Him uniting the soul to Him in holy communion 
in love gives to man the condition of eternal life. 

There is a quality of life belonging to the believer 
in Christ which in its disposition, desires, and ex- 
pression is superior to any form of life below it. 
This life is called spiritual. It resembles a life of 
morality, but greatly differs from it. A man may be 
moral from selfishness; he can be spiritual only by 
love. Eternal life differs from a merely moral life, as 
love which is altruistic differs from love which is sel- 
fish, as generosity differs from exchange, as devotion 
differs from duty, and as the life of Jesus differed 
from certain men of his time who trusted in them- 
selves that they were righteous, and despised others. 

The men who gathered about Jesus and became 
his disciples may serve to illustrate the change which 
comes to men in the reception of spiritual life. The 
disciples when they first came to Jesus were good 
men in the usual acceptance of goodness. But it 
required a great change to bring them into such 
companionship with Jesus as made them men of like 
spirit to Him. At the first they believed in Jesus 
as a deliverer from certain social and political con- 
ditions rather than as a giver of spiritual life. They 



36 The Secret of Successful Life 

looked for his kingdom to come ; but it was to be a 
kingdom of political power and dominance existing 
for Israel and not for the world. They wished 
for themselves places in that kingdom, but places 
for their own honor. Selfishness rather than love 
was dominant. They would keep children from the 
presence of Jesus; they would silence the cry of 
a troubled woman; they would send hungry multi- 
tudes away ; they would call down fire of vengeance 
upon an offending village. 

They prayed for the coming of the kingdom, but 
a kingdom for themselves. These men, under the 
tuition of Jesus, were greatly changed. They re- 
ceived the words of Jesus and found them to be 
spirit and life. They fed upon Jesus and found 
Him to be living bread. They learned to love as 
Jesus loved, condescendingly, generously, serviceably. 
They received freely, they gave freely. They ob- 
tained power, they used power beneficently. Their 
patriotism expanded into philanthropy ; lines of racial 
demarcation disappeared ; obligation to men was 
measured by opportunity and power; they lived, 
like the Master, to do good. They received the 
spirit of Jesus and were uplifted, transformed, and 
made children of the Highest. They lived in com- 
munion with God ; they ministered to men in love ; 
they rejoiced in the life eternal. 

Christianity is not a higher morality, though it 
gives higher standards of morality. Christianity is 
a loftier faith and a purer love. Christianity is a 
disposition, a desire, a purpose, a setting of the will, 
an efflorescence of goodness, a rich fruitage of 



Bread 37 

righteousness. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, 
joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
meekness, temperance." Christianity is a quality of 
soul which is beautiful in the sight of God. 

There are conditions and experiences common to 
saint and sinner alike as long as they are in the 
world, but there are differences in the saint and the 
sinner in relation to the things which are common 
to both. Temptation comes to the saint as to the 
sinner; but the saint gains a victory; to him temp- 
tation is opportunity; he faces a stairway which 
leads upward. Trouble comes to the saint as to 
the sinner; but the saint has comfort; to him 
trouble finds a center of inward peace. Sorrow 
comes to the saint as to the sinner ; but the saint has 
comfort; his sorrow is followed by joy. Victory, 
peace, comfort, and joy are Christian experiences. 

Strength of soul which comes by faith and which 
expresses itself in love; strength which makes the 
will firm and which keeps hope constant; strength 
which comforts the heart and gives joy to the spirit 
is as real an experience in human life as is strength 
which comes to a hungry and thirsty man when he 
drinks and is refreshed, and eats and is renewed. 

All that any man needs in order to know the 
reality of heavenly bread and the certainty of eternal 
life is to partake of that bread and to lead that life. 
The conscious life of any man is his real life. What 
a man experiences, he knows. What a man has in him- 
self, he possesses. We may say, now, with the same 
assurance as men who wrote in the first Christian 
century: "We know whom we have believed. We 



38 The Secret of Successful Life 

know that we have passed from death unto life. We 
know that we are children of God. We know God 
and knowing Him we know that we have eternal 
life. ,, 



CHAPTER III 

Growth 

*"pHE frost-ferns on my dining room windows 
formed as by fairy ringers on a cold night, rival 
in beauty the flowers on my table; but they lack 
color and fragrance, and are soon gone. 

The frost-ferns on a window pane of a winter 
morning are formed of small particles of water de- 
posited upon the glass and frozen together. The 
ferns in a forest are formed of particles of mineral 
substance which have been changed by a vital force 
into living tissue and woven together from within. 
The former increase by accretion; the latter, by 
growth. The former is inorganic, the latter is or- 
ganic The substance of the former is held in place 
by adhesion and will dissolve at the touch of the sun. 
The substance of the latter is pervaded by a myste- 
rious force called life and must die before it can 
be dissolved. The former may be formed in a night 
and dissolved in a day. The latter is the result of 
a long process of growth, and will endure so long 
as the vital force endures. The element of time 
and of transformation both belong to a living entity. 
No living thing is perfect in its inception. Perfec- 
tion is the result of a process of growth. 

Teachers of religious truth have been singularly 
blind to this scientific fact. They have taught that 
man was created originally perfect. They have also 
taught that a renewed man might suddenly become 

39 



40 The Secret of Successful Life 

perfect. The Westminster Confession of Faith 
states the theological opinion which was long cur- 
rent in respect of man in these words: "After God 
made all other creatures, he created man, male and 
female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued 
with knowledge, righteousness and true holiness, af- 
ter his own image." And of the renewed man, the 
Shorter Catechism says: "The souls of believers 
are, at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do 
immediately pass into glory." 

A man of scientific turn of mind accustomed not 
to lay down preconceived propositions but to look 
candidly for facts which present themselves to the 
mind might ask, "How can a creature be created 
complete in knowledge which is an acquire- 
ment, or perfect in holiness which is an 
achievement?" He might also ask, "How 
can a soul become perfect in holiness by vir- 
tue of the fact of death, which is the separation of 
the soul from the body, even though that soul passes 
into glory?" 

Until recently, teachers of religion, like teachers 
of philosophy and of literature, were not scientific. 
Their method was not inductive. They laid down 
propositions based often on literal statements of the 
scriptures and then sought to maintain them against 
all disputants. They did not compare carefully 
either the statements of the scriptures or their own 
statements with the facts of nature and of life and 
so they misunderstood God and misinterpreted man. 

This habit of mind may be illustrated by the fol- 
lowing incident. In looking through a theological 



Growth 41 

library at one time, I found an old book containing 
this statement: "When God created trees, they 
were perfect and crowned with ripe fruit ; for God 
would not make any incomplete thing." 

This statement of a private individual may serve 
to illustrate the difference between the ancient me- 
chanical theory and the modern vital theory of cre- 
ation. God is continually making trees before the 
eyes of men, but God never makes a tree in the man- 
ner described by this author. The trunk and branch 
and blossom and fruit of a tree are all the result of 
growth. What God does is this. He infuses a 
force which we call life into an atom of matter, and 
the growth of a tree is the result. But to our 
author, this was not a matter of any moment. Like 
theologians of a past period, commonly, the author 
started with a certain conception of God and with 
an assumed principle of his action and with these 
mental concepts he constructed a system of creation, 
a process of history, and a doctrine of final things. A 
perfect man as the head of the human race was a 
part of this system. A moral disaster on the part 
of this man involving the character and moral 
standing of all men was one chief fact of human 
history. This fact made necessary the gracious re- 
lation of God to men which is revealed in the gospel 
and made possible the salvation which men thereby 
attain. 

But man, as we know him, starts life in infancy, 
a creature undeveloped and incomplete in body, 
mind, and character. However the first man may 
have come to be, to the scientific mind, he must 



42 The Secret of Successful Life 

have begun life in mental infancy and in moral 
childhood. Knowledge is the result of learning. 
Moral character is the result of choice and achieve- 
ment. Sinlessness on the part of a first man, even 
though he be the head of a race, would not mean 
holiness. Sinlessness is negative. Holiness is pos- 
itive. Holiness is the result of temptation resisted, 
good chosen, and righteousness attained. A first 
man, as much as any of his descendants, if he is to 
possess the heavenly life, must have the illumination 
of heavenly light, the quickening warmth of heav- 
enly love, and the inpiring power of the heavenly 
Spirit. Jesus has said: "Except a man — [not a 
bad man only, but a man] — be born from above, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God." 

Whatever might take place in a hypothetical 
world, in the world as we know it, perfection of 
any kind comes through growth. Man is no excep- 
tion to this rule. Man differes from creatures be- 
low him only in the potencies of his nature and the 
possibilities of his character. 

The growth of man is conditioned upon hunger, 
made possible by bread, and accomplished by accept- 
ing bread and by assimilating it. Bread is absolutely 
essential to growth. Trees grow by absorbing 
chemical substances, by transforming them, by assim- 
ilating them, and by adding cell to cell until trunk, 
branch, and leaf are complete. An animal body 
grows in a similar way. Bread is absorbed, trans- 
muted into blood, assimilated, added to the cellular 
substances of the body and converted into tissue 
of muscle and nerve until the body attains its full 



Growth 43 

physical perfection. 

Mental growth is similar. A body in a vacuum 
would die. A mind isolated and kept apart from all 
things with which a mind may hold commerce and 
communion, would never grow. We scarcely can 
conceive of its continuance. But as the mind stim- 
ulated by its inherent hunger, puts forth effort and 
through the eye sees and through the hand feels 
material things, and remembers their form and 
quality, it gains in power of seeing, feeling, and 
knowing things. As a mind responds to other minds 
which appeal to it, as a mother's glance and smile 
and voice appeal to a baby, the mind grows. The 
vision becomes more clear, discernment more keen, 
grasp more firm, judgment more accurate, memory 
more retentive, reason more subtle, and the power 
of the will more absolute and constant. All methods 
of education from the nursery to the kindergarten, 
from the public school to the university prove this 
truth. 

A mind with little hunger and with little spon- 
taneous action never will become a great mind. 
Why? Because it is too feeble to feed, therefore it 
cannot grow. A great mind follows growth. 

As it is with the mind, so it is also with the moral 
nature. Deeper and more important than the intel- 
lectual preception and comprehension of things is 
the feeling which is entertained in respect of relation 
to persons. A sense of the presence, a consciousness 
of the individuality, and a regard for the rights of 
other persons are both a cause and a consequence of 
social converse with other persons. Even language 



44 The Secret of Successful Life 

testifies to this fact. A boor is a rustic whose lonely 
life has left him rude so that the roughness of his 
nature grates on sensitive souls. A civil man is a 
cives, 2l citizen, whose daily intercourse with other 
persons has smoothed away the roughness of his 
nature and made him an agreeable companion. The 
polite man and the urbane man, as the words indi- 
cate, have acquired refinement of manner and gra- 
ciousness of speech from dwelling in a city. The 
courteous man has acquired his pleasing bearing 
and address from frequenting a court graced by 
kingly presence. 

The spiritual nature of man, which is his inner 
disposition especially in relation to the spirit of the 
universe which we call God, grows by communion 
with those qualities of God, however they may be 
revealed, which evoke love of spiritual goodness and 
greatness. Appreciation of truthfulness, reverence 
of holiness, love of goodness grow by feeding upon 
those qualities until the soul is enamored of them 
by long gazing upon their sweet lovliness. Wor- 
ship which is waiting upon God and thinking upon 
His majesty, power, goodness, and grace until the 
soul is aglow with adoration, faith, and love, is one 
chief means of spiritual growth. Only men who 
thus waited in contemplative worship, could have 
produced the finest psalms and the loftiest ascrip- 
tions of praise found in the psalms and the prophe- 
cies of the Old Testament. The contemplation of 
the glory of God as exhibited in the heavens, of his 
goodness as shown in the constant beneficence of 
nature, of his grace as revealed in Jesus, tends to 



Growth 45 

evoke such qualities of reverence and gratitude and 
faith as make the soul strong in its adherence to 
righteousness. 

A physical nature feeds upon material food, a 
musical nature feeds upon music, an esthetic nature 
feeds upon beauty, and a religious or spiritual nature 
feeds upon spiritual excellence. We love, because 
we first are loved. This the writers of the Bible un- 
derstood when they used such expressions as the fol- 
lowing: "O taste and see that the Lord is good." 

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy 
and eat. Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye 
that which is good." So Jesus, also, speaks of bread 
and water of life. 

A soul, like a mind, will grow by that upon which 
it feeds. A mind which concerns itself with the 
science of mathematics will think in terms of mathe- 
matics. A mind which thinks upon commercial 
values and measures every thing by such values, will 
become commercial in its tone and thought. A mind 
which thinks upon things political will become a 
political mind. A mind which thinks of moral 
values will grow morally judicious. In like manner, 
a soul which feels the impress of moral excellence 
and beauty will grow more sensitive to moral qual- 
ities. A soul which dwells in love and feels love's 
embrace will grow loving. A soul which contem- 
plates mercy will grow merciful. A soul which 
dwells, voluntarily, in an atmosphere of envy, hate, 
and revenge will grow unmerciful, unloving, and 
cruel. 



46 The Secret of Successful Life 

Jesus recognized this fact in his method of teach- 
ing. He revealed to his disciples the character of 
the Father who is merciful to the ill-deserving, kind 
to the unthankful, and gracious to them who believe 
and obey Him. Jesus bade them be like the Father. 
Their character would be formed by contemplation 
of the divine character. They would grow into the 
likeness of God by the worship of God. 

That which Jesus prescribed to his disciples as the 
method of growth has been abundantly shown in his- 
tory to be the way by which men have grown. Je- 
hovah gave Moses a vision of Himself upon a mount 
when He passed by and proclaimed Himself "the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, 
and abundant in goodness and truth." Moses hav- 
ing seen the vision and heard the voice, returned to 
the base of the mount with a shining face and with 
a loving heart which bore in patience the rebellious 
children of Israel. Jehovah gave to Isaiah in the 
temple, a vision of his holiness. Isaiah beholding the 
vision was first conscious of his own unclean lips, 
next, sensible of pardon and peace, and then, will- 
ing to go forth and call Israel to repentance and 
righteousness. The vision of Jesus which Saul 
beheld on his way to Damascus first filled Saul with 
fear and then with faith. Having seen a vision of 
Jesus whom he persecuted, Saul was willing to be 
led by Jesus in a long life of sacrifice and service. 

Saint Augustine whose remarkable experience of 
deliverance from sin and from doubt, and whose 
confirmation in faith and righteousness made him 
a most remarkable witness to the transforming pow- 



Growth 47 

er of divine grace, has given a beautiful testimony 
of the power of God both to save and to satisfy 
the soul. Augustine has said: "Too late loved I 
Thee, O thou beauty of ancient days. Thou wert 
with me, but I was not with Thee. Things held 
me far from Thee. Thou didst call and shout and 
burst my deafness. Thou didst flash, shine, and 
scatter my blindness. Thou didst breathe odors, and 
I drew in breath, and pant for Thee. I tasted and 
I hunger and thirst for Thee. When I shall with 
my whole self cleave to Thee, I shall nowhere have 
sorrow or labor; and my life shall wholly live as 
wholly full of Thee." Again Augustine says: "Not 
with doubting but with assured consciousness, do I 
love Thee, Lord. But what do I love, when I, 
love Thee? Not the beauty of bodies, nor the fair 
harmony of time, nor the brightness of light so 
gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied 
songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers and oint- 
ments and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs 
acceptable to the embracements of flesh. None of 
these do I love when I love my God ; and yet I love 
a kind of light, a kind of melody, a kind of frag- 
rance, a kind of meat, a kind of embracement, when 
I love my God, — the light, the melody, the frag- 
rance, the meat, the embracement of the inner man : 
where there shineth unto my soul, what spaces can- 
not contain, and there soundeth, what time beareth 
not away, and there smelleth, what breathing dis- 
perseth not, and there tasteth, what eating dimin- 
isheth not, and there clingeth, what satiety divorceth 
not. This is it which I love when I love my God." 



48 The Secret of Successful Life 

Augustine's intellectual opinions in the matter of 
theological thought, were sometimes remote from 
modern thought, but his spiritual experiences of 
divine love and grace were true for all time. As 
Augustine's body had found delight and satisfaction 
in the light, beauty, melody, fragrance and food of 
nature, so did his soul find delight and satisfaction 
in the light and love and grace of God. 

There is provided, in this universe, food for the 
soul as well as food for the body. But there is a 
difference between food in its relation to physical 
being, and food in its relation to spiritual being. 
The difference is this : A physical nature transforms 
the food which it receives into substance like itself; 
a spiritual nature is transformed by the food which 
it receives. Sheep and cattle and horses feeding in 
the same pasture and drinking of the same brook 
change the grass and water into the substance of 
sheep and cattle and horses. The quality of food 
eaten by a physical body determines only in a small 
degree the quality of that body. Coarse food can- 
not make a fine body coarse, nor fine food make a 
coarse body fine, save in a very limited degree. But 
the spiritual food upon which a soul feeds will make 
that soul something worse or better than it was by 
nature. A boy whose hero is a bully will become 
like a bully; a boy whose hero is truly brave, will 
become brave. A girl whose goddess is Venus will 
become vain; a girl whose goddess is the Virgin 
Mary will become a humble handmaid of the Lord 
to do his will. 

A man or a nation will grow like that which is 



Growth 49 

worshipped. The Greeks loved physical beauty and 
adored divinities of physical perfection. The Greeks 
in art, in bodily form, and in manners, aimed to 
produce physical perfection ; but the Greeks, in mor- 
als, fell below some ruder nations. The Romans 
worshipped power. Jove and Mars were mighty in 
the thought of Rome. The Romans framed laws, 
organized armies, and established and maintained an 
empire by force. Some modern nations worship 
wealth and excel in methods of gaining wealth rath- 
er than in the practice of morality. That which 
men regard as the highest good will inspire both 
their thought and their action, and so determine 
character. 

It is well said, in every sense, that a man's re- 
ligion is the chief fact in regard to him, Thomas 
Carlyle has said: "The thing a man does practic- 
ally lay to heart, and know for certain, concerning 
his vital relations to this mysterious universe, and his 
duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the pri- 
mary thing for him, and creatively determines all 
the rest. That is his religion." What a man wor- 
ships — thinks of as best, adores, loves and would 
possess — -is the most important thing in the forma- 
tion of character. 

One has caricatured the saying, "An honest man's 
the noblest work of God," by the sentence, "An 
honest God's the noblest work of man." But man 
never has made an honest god. Every god of whom 
man is the creator has borne so great likeness to man 
himself that he has proved immoral. No deity of 
all the pantheon of the pagan world has been able to 



50 The Secret of Successful Life 

endure in the presence of the God and Father of 
Jesus. Only the God who has revealed himself in 
the person of Jesus endures as the supreme object 
of men's worship. The worship of that God alone, 
can make men perfect. 

It has been suggested that as man improves him- 
self, his conception of God improves, and therefore 
the God of Christian people is the product and re- 
sult of man's growing morality. But, historically, 
this is not true. Man did not become holy first and 
then think of God as holy. But on the other hand, 
there came to man, in some way, the revelation and 
the command of God, saying, "Be ye holy, for I am 
holy." The history of the Old Testament makes 
plain the fact that a holy God as the object of wor- 
ship was the source of improvement in the spirit and 
in the morals of the Hebrew race. When the He- 
brew people worshipped some other god than Je- 
hovah, they always declined in morals. 

The history of Christianity proves even more 
clearly than Hebrew history that the order of de- 
velopment is from God to man and never from man 
to God. The disciples of Jesus did not become 
holy, loving, large-minded, merciful, and gracious to- 
wards all men ; and then conclude that God is like 
that. No ! It was a new conception of God which 
changed the conception of the disciples in respect of 
themselves, their relation to other men and their 
duty to the Gentile world. Their theology deter- 
mined their sociology. That has been the order of 
growth ever since. 

It was the fact that God is no respecter of per- 



Growth 51 

sons, revealed to Peter, that made him willing to 
preach the gospel to the Roman captain, Cornelius, 
and to baptize him. It was the fact that God had 
made of one blood all nations, that impelled Paul 
to regard all nations as worthy to receive the gos- 
pel of divine grace. It was conviction of the fact 
that, in the divine judgment, "There is neither Jew 
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
neither male nor female," that made Paul welcome 
to equal privileges the slave, Onesimus, and his mas- 
ter, Philemon; receive to equal privilege Aquila 
and his wife Priscilla; and give the right hand of 
Christian fellowship to his Jewish countrymen and 
to the Roman soldiers of Caesar's household. It 
was the fact that God loved men with a love which 
would make sacrifice to save, as exemplified in the 
life and death of Jesus, that made the apostles will- 
ing to become martyrs and to lay down life itself 
if, thereby, men might be saved. Had the disci- 
ples believed that Jesus was only a man, like them- 
selves, and that he had died an involuntary death as 
a victim of Jewish fanaticism, they never would 
have been constrained to accept death so willingly. 
In that case, neither the death of Jesus nor their 
own death would have had any appreciable effect 
upon the character and destiny of men. Martyr- 
doms — of which there had been many — until the 
time of Jesus, had not made men holy nor loving. 

It is true that as centuries have passed and an 
increasing number of men have become Christians, 
the moral standards of society generally have risen 
and the standards of Jesus have been measurably 



52 The Secret of Successful Life 

adopted. But it is not true that because society 
has been growing better, the conception of God 
has risen. The reverse of this is true. A better 
understanding of the teachings of Jesus and of the 
character of God as revealed in Him, has preceded 
the higher moral teachings and the more Christ- 
like character of men. Were this not the case and 
were the increasing goodness of men the cause of the 
worship of a holier God, then the New Testament 
ought to have been replaced by this time by a better 
text book; then, higher and holier teachings of the 
character of God than those of Jesus ought to have 
been given ; then, Jesus Himself ought to have been 
supplanted by a more divine Messiah. But this 
has not happened. Two things are very significant 
as well as very true. Men still refer to Jesus as 
the supreme teacher of spiritual and moral truth 
and confess that the God whom Jesus reveals is 
worthy of the holiest worship, the most ardent love, 
and the most devoted service. Men who drift away 
from Jesus and his teachings, commonly deteriorate 
in spirituality and in morals. 

Another great fact is worthy of notice. The 
number of men who worship a holy God and who 
follow a loving life is increasing in the world, yet, 
in the thought of men, God is no more holy, faith is 
no more firm, love is no more fervid, devotion to 
duty is no more complete, and character is no finer 
with modern men than with some men of the first 
Christian century. Men have not passed beyond 
the teaching of Jesus who said : "Ye therefore shall 
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." 



Growth 53 

Jesus is the first and the final teacher of men in 
the sphere of the spirit. They who follow him 
with believing mind, trustful spirit, and obedient 
will, are disciples in the school of Christian living. 
Their own experience tests and proves the great 
fact that the words of Jesus are spirit, and that he 
himself is bread of life. 

The conditions of growth ought to be carefully 
noticed and complied with. Jesus lays emphasis 
on disposition as the primary condition of learning 
and of growth. His blessings are for "the poor in 
spirit," "the meek, ,, "the merciful," "the pure in 
heart," and for such as "hunger for righteousness." 

The purpose and the practice of life are of essen- 
tial value in the estimation of Jesus. "Every one 
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to 
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." "He 
that doeth truth, cometh to the light." One who 
would grow must be willing to put away evil and to 
cultivate good. 

Jesus calls attention to sincerity of heart and 
obedience of will as necessary to growth. Jesus 
says: "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall 
know of the teaching ■ whether it be of God." 
"Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is 
in heaven, he is my brother, and sister and mother." 

The effort of Jesus is to touch the inner springs 
of emotion and action. He is more concerned with 
feeling than with intelligence. He knows that 
life is fed and trained by life. Jesus spoke to men 
in parable and in picture and tried to lift their minds 
from the knowledge of what is best in men to what 



54 The Secret of Successful Life 

is good in God. Jesus never pointed men to the 
"fixed laws" of nature to instruct them in regard to 
what they might expect of God. Jesus ever point- 
ed men to the promptings of love and bade them find 
the ways of God who is a spirit in the way of the 
spirit of man. 

If Jesus would encourage men to pray, he told 
them of an unjust judge who avenged a widow who 
came continually to him for justice, avenging her 
because of her insistence; of a neighbor who would 
rise at midnight and give bread to his friend because 
of his need and importunity; of a human father 
who would not give a stone to a child who asked 
bread ; and of the fact that the Father in heaven 
knows men's need before they ask him. He empha- 
sized God's willingness to answer prayer by assert- 
ing that "much more" than men, God will hear 
and see and know and answer prayers by giving 
good gifts. 

Jesus instructed men in a knowledge of the mer- 
ciful and gracious ways of God, that men may both 
depend on his mercy and become themselves merci- 
ful. Jesus pointed men to a woman sweeping her 
house to find a lost wedding coin, to a shepherd 
leaving his fold to find one stray sheep, to a father 
falling on the neck of a returning prodigal son with 
full forgiveness and bountiful welcome, and bade 
men see in these pictures an illustration of the loving 
spirit of God. 

Jesus tried to persuade men to put away needless 
anxieties and hurtful fears by assuring them that 
men who live in faith and walk in love are more 



Growth 55 

to God than the flowers of the field which he clothes 
in beauty, and more than the birds of the air which 
he feeds with widespread bounty. 

Jesus tried to teach men how to grow unto per- 
fection by reminding them of the character of God 
who loves, blesses, and does good simply because 
such is his nature, even as it is the nature of the 
sun to shine beneficently. Jesus bids men love 
and bless and do good in like manner that they may 
be the children of the Father who "makes his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain 
on the just and on the unjust." 

Jesus teaches that the law of life for the disciple 
is the same as the law of life for the Master. "This 
is my commandment, that ye love one another, even 
as I have loved you." Jesus also teaches that the 
disciple should be satisfied to be like the Master in 
the experiences of life. "It is enough that the dis- 
ciple be as his master and the servant as his Lord." 
One who would follow Jesus and be like Him must 
conform to the conditions of growth. 

Three things constitute the conditions of growing, 
namely, atmosphere, food, and exercise. The social 
atmosphere in which you dwell is of first impor- 
tance. You may perceive easily the effect of an 
atmosphere upon your soul. If you are in busi- 
ness and experience sharp competition and shrewd 
dealing, then, that influence may easily lead you to 
cherish the same shrewd and selfish spirit. If you 
have suffered wrong and your mind dwells upon the 
wrong until its bitterness is constant, then, very 
easily a spirit of resentment and of revenge may be 



56 The Secret of Successful Life 

awakened in you. If you live amid suspicion and 
jealousy, a blight may readily fall upon generous 
affections. On the other hand, association with the 
just, the generous, the charitable, the kindly, and the 
serviceable tends to awaken generous and kindly 
feelings within your own breast. 

Jesus' purpose is to lift you by his own great love 
into a high and pure atmosphere where you may 
consciously dwell in the light and warmth of God's 
gracious goodness. If you keep yourself in 
the consciousness of God's great love for 
you, then, the lovelessness which you may 
sometimes meet among men will not so chill 
your own affections as to blight and destroy them. 
The injustice of men will not turn you from the 
path of rectitude. The evil of men will not prevent 
you from doing good. The love of God will keep 
you warm in affection, sweet in disposition, calm in 
life's commotions, courageous to bear, and strong to 
do the things demanded by your relations and by 
your opportunities. If you feed upon the truth of 
God as revealed by Jesus, your soul will not fail 
nor faint, and as your days demand, so shall your 
strength be. 

That which Jesus would have you learn is the 
quality of spirit in which to live. He would culti- 
vate the soul rather than inform the intellect. All 
intellectual information furnished by Him is for the 
cultivation of the soul. You must exercise, volun- 
tarily, the choice of things pure and true and good. 
You must put away feelings which would make you 
unlike Christ. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and 



Growth 57 

anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away 
from you with all malice." You must cultivate the 
graces of the spirit and "be kind, tender-hearted, 
forgiving, even as God for Chrises sake hath for- 
given you." Thus you will grow by exercise. You 
will control your spirit, you will cast out evil, you 
will resist temptation, you will increase in love, you 
will be an embodiment in living form of the pre- 
cepts of Jesus. Growing in such ways, you will 
become like Christ and will be numbered among the 
citizens of his great and glorious kingdom. The 
symbols of the Book of Revelation such as the white 
robe, the palm, the crown will fittingly express the 
purity, the victorious strength, the royal dignity, 
and the worth of your character. 



CHAPTER IV 

Man's Place in Nature 

f S man, naturally, a finality or a potentiality? Was 
A man complete in intelligence and character, when 
he first appeared upon the earth, or was he a crea- 
ture made to be completed? The doctrine taught 
by theologians for centuries has been that man, at 
first, was a finality. Adam was created perfect; in 
intelligence and moral endowment, he was the res- 
plendent image of the Creator. So recent and so 
eminent a theologian as the late Charles Hodge of 
Princeton has said: "Man was originally created in 
a state of maturity and perfection. " "It is common- 
ly said by theologians that the body was created 
immortal and impassible." "With regard to its 
immortality, it is certain that if man had not sinned, 
he would not have died." A moral catastrophe fol- 
lowing an act of disobedience has made mankind 
degenerate. Sin, pain, suffering, and death are 
all consequences of the fall of man. Salvation is 
largely the restoration of man to his primal and 
normal condition. 

Nothing could illustrate more clearly than such 
statements, the utterly unscientific habit of mind 
which prevailed in the church as well as in the world 
when the creeds which we have inherited were 
formed. Theologians failed to look upon life as it 
lay before them, but read the letter of the scriptures 
without perceiving the spirit. A man, though he 
should be made at once with a perfect body and a 

58 



Mans Place in Nature 59 

full-sized brain, could not be complete in knowledge 
which is an acquirement, nor in holiness which is an 
achievement. The body of a man, by its very con- 
stitution, is capable of pain and, in a world like this, 
must suffer even though there be no sin. Death, 
also, was in the world before man appeared upon it, 
and death is a destiny awaiting every material body 
born in the world. Physical death is a part of the 
orderly process of nature. 

Sin and suffering and the death entailed thereby, 
must be studied apart from the physical laws which 
dominate the life of all animal creation including 
man, except where sin is in violation of a physical 
law. 

Theologians have been philosophers and not sci- 
entists. They have followed a deductive and not 
an inductive process of reasoning. They have read 
the story of creation in Genesis and they have inter- 
preted it by Saint Paul's use of Adam as a type of 
Christ. They have pressed Saint Paul's illustration 
to extreme limits. They have made Adam as much 
a destroyer of his race as Christ is a Saviour. 

The book of Genesis, however, is a book of begin- 
nings. It is not a scientific book. It states facts. It 
does not describe processes. It is an imaginary 
painting, not a photograph. It is poetical, pictorial, 
and parabolic according to the genius of the Orien- 
tal people who wrote the Bible.* Its purpose is relig- 



*See an excellent article on The Oriental Manner of 
Speech, by Abraham Mintrie Rihbany, in The Atlantic 
Monthly, April, 1916. 



60 The Secret of Successful Life 

ious, not scientific. "God created the heavens and 
the earth." The fact not the method of creation is 
affirmed. "God spoke" — put forth power — and 
light, atmosphere, land, plants, animals and, finally, 
man appeared. The purpose of all this is to show 
God's relation to the things that are. Man is more 
than a result of chemical processes. Man is a living 
soul, an image of the Creator. The image is an etching 
faint rather than full, potential in its promise rather 
than perfect. If Adam is compared with Jesus, who 
is said to be the image of the invisible God, the 
embryonic character of Adam's likeness will be 
apparent. Adam was created to be developed. It 
was possible for him to choose his course, to know 
good or evil by experience, to develop or to degen- 
erate, to live or to die. 

Such is the picture of Genesis. Its simplicity and 
purity, its freedom from exaggeration, and its relig- 
ious suggestiveness make it superior to other similar 
traditions of the Semitic race. That parental choice 
and conduct affect the character of descendants and 
transmit qualities and tendencies is obvious. The 
fall of man and original sin are matters of vital 
truth, but they have been pressed altogether too far. 
They have been so presented as to give God a quality 
of judgment, a method of conduct and a severity of 
punishment which if practiced by any man or nation 
would call forth condemnation. Saint Paul's use of 
Adam must not be so pressed as to pervert the simple 
facts of Genesis, or to deny the facts of history. 
Genesis seeks, in the pictorial language of primitive 
people, to tell how man began to be. Saint Paul is 



Mans Place in Nature 61 

concerned, chiefly, to show how man may be com- 
plete in Christ. 

It is more important for us to know what man 
is now, than to imagine what he may have been in 
the beginning. It is more valuable for us to take 
Jesus' estimate of man than to take an opinion based 
upon some interpretation of the narrative in Genesis. 

Jesus most obviously regards man as a candidate 
for a kingdom. He came preaching the nearness of 
a kingdom which he called the kingdom of heaven. 
He bade men strive to enter that kingdom. He 
said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." 

Potentially, a grain of corn is a possible plant; 
but except a grain of corn be begotten by the vital- 
izing power of sunlight, it cannot be a stalk of corn. 
Potentially, an egg is a possible bird ; but except an 
egg be quickened by the brooding warmth of a 
mother, it cannot be a bird. Potentially, a child in 
the matrix is a possible man ; but unless the child be 
born into the larger world of air and light and 
action, it cannot be a man. Potentially, according 
to the teaching of Jesus, a man is a possible son of 
God ; but unless a man is quickened by the Spirit 
and brought into communion with God, he cannot 
be a son. Jesus regards man as naturally a germ to 
be quickened, an embryo to be developed, a child to 
be born, a creature of earth to become a citizen of 
heaven. This is quite in accord with the course of 
nature and with the ascending orders of life. 

In the ascending grades of living beings, there is 
always something added in each new kingdom. A 



62 The Secret of Successful Life 

crystal has a form shaped by nature's forces and it 
has beauty in some respects quite equal to the 
beauty of a flower; but there is something in a 
flower which is not in a crystal. A crystal is in the 
mineral kingdom, a flower is in the vegetable king- 
dom. A flower has a form and a beauty something 
like the form and beauty of a sea-anemone; but a 
sea-anemone, as it opens itself on the face of a rock, 
has something which a flower does not possess. A 
flower is in the vegetable kingdom, a sea-anemone 
is in the animal kingdom. An animal has appe- 
tites and affections such as are found in man; but 
there is something in man which marks him as be- 
longing in a higher range of life than an animal. 
There is something in man which impels him to seek 
after God, if haply he may find him. This may 
not be sufficient of itself to lift man out of the ani- 
mal kingdom, but it differentiates man from all 
other animals. It makes possible man's emergence 
from the animal kingdom into the kingdom of 
heaven. 

It should be noticed, also, that in every advance 
from one kingdom to another, some power from 
above uplifts and transforms the lower. The lower 
never emerges by its own force into a high- 
er kingdom. Whence this power comes, we 
know not. That it does come and that 
it works a great change we do know. Jesus 
says: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every 
one that is born of the Spirit." The fact that some- 



Mans Place in Nature 63 

thing has been produced in man is as manifest as the 
fact that the wind has passed and produced a change 
on the face of nautre. 

It is written in the gospel that there is a light 
shining in the world, a life coming to the race of 
men, a breath of a spirit from heaven, an influence 
divine, and that they who receive this light and 
breath, receive power to become sons of God. They 
"are born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Saint 
Paul says: "They who are after the flesh, do 
mind the things of the flesh ; but they who are after 
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." He also adds: 
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
are the sons of God." Saint Paul also says in con- 
nection with his doctrine of the resurrection: "How- 
beit that is not first which is spiritual (pneumatical) 
but that which is natural (psychical), and after- 
ward that which is spiritual." "The first man is of 
the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from 
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that 
are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they 
also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image 
of the heavenly." It is scarcely needful to add that 
Saint Paul is speaking of those who have known the 
heavenly birth of the Spirit. Speaking to such per- 
sons, Saint John also says: "Behold what manner 
of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we 
should be called the sons of God: therefore the 
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 



64 The Secret of Successful Life 

not yet appear what we shall be: but we know 
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; 
for we shall see him as he is." 

Such, briefly, is the general tenor of the teaching 
of the New Testament. Man is not a finality and 
never has been. Man is a potentiality and has 
been such from his creation. Man begins life as 
part of the animal kingdom, but with a receptive 
capacity and a latent power which make possible 
action upon him by the Spirit of God whereby he 
may be lifted into a higher kingdom called the king- 
dom of heaven and the kingdom of God. How this 
takes place man no more knows than he knows 
how life begins anywhere. The process of chang- 
ing man is as secret, subtle, and strong as the 
process by which life once begun is quickened by the 
warmth of sunlight or by warmth of maternal love 
or by mental action and influence, and transformed 
into something of higher quality and nobler form 
and fairer beauty. That such a change does take 
place, may be known by the results; just as the re- 
sults of life may be known anywhere. The quality 
of the new life is the important thing by which its 
grade may be known. Wherever spiritual love and 
purity, sweetness and strength, devotion and 
righteousness are found, there the life exists. Some 
persons evidently grow in this life from childhood. 
They are known of God and, in the Hebrew sense 
of communion, they know God from infancy. Oth- 
ers evidently begin this life at a definite period and 
with marked experiences. 

The change of the natural man to the spiritual 






Mans Place in Nature 65 

man is most perceptible and most impressive when the 
change takes place in those who have been dom- 
inated by that selfishness and self-seeking which 
belong to the natural man. Such changes are 
frequent and well defined. One day Peter is 
a fisherman, a disciple of Jesus but a disciple 
with an intense conviction that only Jews will 
obtain Jesus' salvation and participate in his king- 
dom. The next day, Peter is an apostle of love, 
giving the right hand of fellowship to a Gentile 
soldier of the Roman army and declaring the great 
fact that "God is no respecter of persons, but in 
every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh 
righteousness is accepted of Him." One day, Saul 
of Tarsus is a self-righteous man, breathing out 
threatenings against all who believe in Jesus and 
proceeding to Damascus to arrest any believers who 
may be there. The next day, Saul has become 
Paul, an apostle; and in Damascus is preaching 
Jesus as the Saviour of man. The change in the 
man was not only a change of opinion but a change 
in the spirit of his life. One day, Augustine is 
teaching rhetoric and revelling in sexual lusts. The 
next day, Augustine is living in regal control of the 
flesh and teaching spiritual truth. One day, Fran- 
cis of Assisi is enjoying his father's wealth and 
spending it on the pleasures of youthful society. The 
next day, Francis is giving up all wealth and all 
pleasure of the world that he may serve Christ 
and enjoy the pleasures of spiritual society. One 
day, John Bunyan is a profane tinker. The next 
day John Bunyan is a dreamer of immortal dreams 



66 The Secret of Successful Life 

and a writer of a book which next to the bible was 
long to be the most useful book in all Britain. One 
day, Jerry McCauley is a companion and a partner 
of thieves. The next day, Jerry McCauley is a 
preacher of righteousness, saving men such as he 
had been. One day, Delia, "The Bluebird of Mul- 
berry Bend," is a harlot on the streets of New York. 
The next day, Delia, won by a kiss of Christian 
love, is walking the same streets in saintly purity, 
seeking to save the fallen. 

The changes from a life in the flesh to a life 
in the spirit, are so numerous and so marked, and 
there are, now, so many who in pure love and 
holy ministry walk in the ways of Christ, that the 
fact of a higher life for men is most manifest. He 
who doubts it, would doubt the light of a star. He 
who denies it, would deny the finest flower bloom- 
ing in any garden on earth. He who does not de- 
sire it for himself, shows his lack of desire for what 
is finest and best in men. 

Salvation has been preached and is still often 
preached as deliverance from a calamity — from the 
results of a fall. Salvation, more properly, is deliv- 
erance from a condition. Where there has been the 
calamity of a fall, of course, there must be deliver- 
ance from that ; but deeper than that, is deliverance 
from a natural condition. Man must be saved from 
an earthly and animal state of life. He must be 
saved from a life which is limited to the sphere 
of the bodily and animal senses. In this sense, man 
always needed salvation. Adam, as much as any 
of his descendants, needed salvation. Jesus says: 



Mans Place in Nature 67 

"Marvel not that I said, 'Ye must be born again.' ' 
The "must" — the necessity — in Jesus' estimation, is 
primarily not because of sin whether of Adam or of 
any individual, but because "That which is born of 
the flesh, is flesh." Jesus regards salvation as gener- 
ation and birth into a higher state wherein the spirit 
is supreme. 

It is true that Jesus came to save people "from 
their sins." But it is equally true that Jesus saves 
from sin by lifting men into a higher life wherein 
their desires and their choices are for things true 
and holy. Salvation, in the opinion of many, is 
deliverance from punishment and forgiveness of 
sins; but, in Jesus' opinion, salvation is the recep- 
tion of a new power from above whereby men be- 
come children of God and delight to do his will. 

It is true that Jesus began his preaching by 
calling men to repent. But it should be noticed 
that the reason which Jesus gave for repentance was 
that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was 
not impending punishment but open opportunity of 
the heavenly life which Jesus urged as the motive 
of repentance. Jesus says: "God so loved the 
world that he gave his Son that whosoever believ- 
eth in Him might not perish." Jesus says that the 
man who believes on Him "hath eternal life." Men 
escape from perishing by accepting eternal life. It 
is true that there is forgiveness where there is guilt 
and deliverance where there is danger of destruction, 
but forgiveness and deliverance accompany the re- 
ception of that "grace of God which brings salvation 
and teaches how to live." 



68 The Secret of Successful Life 

The sin which Jesus specially notices and con- 
demns is the sin of refusing to be saved. Men are 
not condemned by Jesus because they are down, but 
because they refuse to rise. "This is the condem- 
nation that light is come into the world, and men 
loved darkness rather than light." "God sent not 
his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but 
that the world through him might be saved." "He 
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he 
that believeth not is condemned already, because he 
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten 
Son of God." The condemnation is not for what 
a man has done in sinning, but for what he fails to 
do by not believing. 

This conception of salvation should give men a 
new conception of sin. It is very noticeable that 
Jesus did not judge harshly, men who were under 
the domination of natural appetites. It is, likewise, 
noticeable that Jesus did not demand morality as a 
condition of entering his kingdom. This was not 
because Jesus approved of physical vice, but because 
He saw that freedom could come only by a spiritual 
liberation. Jesus did not require morality in pros- 
pective disciples for the reason that the morality 
demanded in his kingdom could be produced only 
by the force of a higher life. Sin is commonly 
regarded as some feeling, word, or act which is evil. 
But sin is a mistake, a wrong choice, a misdirection 
in living, a failure. The great sin which destroys 
men is the refusal to accept the higher life. Adam 
chose the fruit of the tree of knowledge of evil, 
rather than the fruit of the tree of life. Adam 



Mans Place in Nature 69 

degenerated. Adam's descendants choose the things 
of the flesh and the knowledge of evil rather than 
the things of the spirit and the knowledge of good. 
They too degenerate. Degeneration among men 
is as common as development. 

I take it that had the first man chosen to ascend, 
he would not have fallen. Now, however low men 
have fallen, the grace of God can lift them up. 
"All sins shall be forgiven" unto the sons of men, 
says Jesus. He who believeth shall be saved. This 
is the gospel. 

However high a man may be by virtue of his 
birth and by culture in the refinements of polite 
society, that will not save him. Birth, education, 
culture, politeness — all good things indeed for the 
world — will not lift any man into the kingdom of 
heaven. 

What God desires in a man are qualities of the 
spirit which belong to a heavenly kingdom. What 
God requires in man is faith in Him, however 
revealed to man, and especially faith in Him as 
revealed in His Son where that revelation is known. 
What God looks for as evidences of the true life of 
man are reverence, faith, gratitude, love, obedience, 
devotion to truth and to the law of love especially 
as that love shows itself in the life of Jesus. These 
qualities of character are said to be fruits of the 
spirit. They grow not from earth alone, but from 
earth as kissed and quickened by the touch from 
heaven. As flowers and fruits are the product of the 
earth and the physical heaven, so these graces are 
the product of human nature quickened and made 



70 The Secret of Successful Life 

perfect by the touch and power of the Spirit of God. 
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
perance. " If these are not found in a man, then, 
however much of decency and morality there may 
be in human relations, condemnation must be pro- 
nounced. 

Is not this the law of judgment of all life in this 
world? If the tree of a husbandman does not bear 
fruit, he will dig about it, fertilize it, and give it 
every chance of sunshine and shower. Then, if it 
bears no fruit what will he say? "Cut it down; 
why cumbereth it the ground. " A fig tree with 
leaves and no fruit is a failure as a fig tree. 

Is not a student dropped from his class in college 
simply because he refuses to learn? He may point 
to his good clothes, to his politeness, to his decent 
habits, to his freedom from vice, nevertheless, in 
the world of scholarship for whose service a college 
exists, if he will not learn, he is condemned. Is not 
a soldier dismissed from the ranks if he will not 
drill with his company? No decencies of private 
life can make him a soldier when his individuality 
is so pronounced that he cannot be subject to the 
will of his commander and made one of a company. 
Does not a clerk lose his place in the world of busi- 
ness if he proves incompetent? In all the higher 
ranges of life in the world, failure to accept a 
privilege, to improve an opportunity, to fulfill an 
obligation, and thereby to rise into a higher state of 
life in learning, or in art, or in official position, or 
in the esteem of men, debars one forever from that 



Mans Place in Nature 71 

higher place or that higher life. This men rec- 
ognize in all civilized society. 

Only in things of the spirit and in things of the 
kingdom of God, do men flatter themselves that they 
can secure welfare and obtain the rewards of the 
kingdom of heaven, while neglecting the conditions 
upon which such things rest. Men, who in their 
generation are eminently wise and prudent in respect 
to things of the world, are singularly blind in respect 
to the laws of the life of the spirit and indifferent 
to the judgments of the kingdom of God. And 
because, while they are blind, they say, "we see"; 
therefore their sin remaineth. 

The sin of Jerusalem, in the days of Jesus, was 
that the people would not see and learn the things 
which made for their peace. The sin of the Jews 
was that they would not come to Jesus that they 
might have life. The sin of men of the world is 
that they will not come unto the light; but prefer 
the darkness. This is as though a grain of corn in 
the earth should refuse to receive sunlight, as though 
an egg should resist the warmth which would 
quicken it into a bird, as though a child in the mat- 
rix should refuse to be born. It is the refusal of a 
soul to respond to the light, and love, and opportun- 
ity given by God, and so to reject the power which 
would so act upon it as to quicken it in spirituality 
and perfect it in righteousness. 

The question may be asked, If God is omnipotent, 
why does he not regenerate every man? This ques- 
tion, in thought, confuses material and moral things, 
and fails to distinguish between physical and spirit- 



72 The Secret of Successful Life 

ual power. An act of physical power can lift a 
grain of corn and transplant it, but it cannot give 
a grain of corn life. The vitalizing power of sun- 
light differs from a power which simply can change 
the position of a grain of corn in space; sunlight 
produces change within the corn itself. A man with 
physical power can lift a child and transport him 
from place to place in space; but such power can- 
not persuade a child to love or to perform an act of 
righteousness. A power which produces righteous- 
ness must act within the soul of the child and impel 
him to choose righteousness for himself. A power 
acting like a physical force to compel a man's moral 
action would destroy a man's liberty. That liberty 
God has given to man and He does not propose to 
destroy it. 

The Spirit of God acting upon the soul of man 
can move man, as one mind can move another 
mind, to see and to feel righteousness; but the soul 
of man must choose righteousness for itself. Herein 
lies the agreement of Calvinism, which ascribes sal- 
vation to the grace of God, and Arminianism, which 
ascribes salvation to human choice. There can be 
no stalk of corn if sunlight from heaven does not 
come to a grain of corn to quicken it; there can 
be no stalk of corn unless the grain of corn responds 
to the sunlight. There can be no salvation, in the 
sense of being born into the kingdom of heaven, if 
the spirit of God does not come to the soul of man to 
quicken it with life from above; there can be no 
salvation, unless the soul of man responds to the 
inspiration of the spirit. This is the deep convic- 



Mans Place in Nature 73 

tion of the Christian church. The hymns and the 
liturgies of the church ascribe salvation to God 
and give thanks for grace divine. The judgment of 
the scriptures and the judgment of the church alike 
condemn men who are not saved, because they have 
refused to accept salvation. 

Man's place in nature gives him the singular 
capacity to receive life from God and to hold com- 
munion with Him. God's grace gives to men the 
opportunity to receive such grace and to enjoy such 
communion. Man's choice accepts or rejects such 
communion. This agrees with the conditions of life 
in the orders of creation below man. This accords 
with the teaching of scripture respecting man. The 
divine attitude and the human action are thus ex- 
pressed in the Bible: "I have called, and ye refus- 
ed." "I am come that they might have life." And 
"ye will not come to me that ye might have life." 
But he that believeth, loveth, obeyeth hath eternal 
life. 

This is man's place in nature. Man stands at the 
head of creation as now constituted in this world. 
He is superior to everything else. He has dominion 
over the creatures beneath him. But man stands at 
the entrance of the kingdom of heaven. He is poten- 
tially a child of God. He is a possible heir of God. 
Scientists admit that further development for man 
must be along spiritual lines. As an animal, he is 
complete. As a spirit he is to be completed. Jesus 
teaches that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He 
bids men strive to enter that kingdom. As men 
enter a kingdom other than the kingdom of their 



74 The Secret of Successful Life 

birth, by naturalization, by accepting the govern- 
ment, laws and institutions of that kingdom, so men 
enter the kingdom of heaven by faith and obedience. 
The kingdom of heaven is within them and they are 
in the kingdom of heaven. 

The spiritual difference between men arises from 
the fact that some enter the kingdom just above 
them and some choose to remain in the kingdom of 
the world. Saint Paul defines the two classes by 
saying that the lower class walk after the flesh and 
the higher class walk after the Spirit. They may be 
distinguished by this fact: "They that are after the 
flesh mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are 
after the Spirit — the things of the Spirit/' The 
sad fact remains that "the mind of the flesh is 
death"; and the blessed fact remains that "the mind 
of the Spirit is life." In Saint Paul's conception, 
men who continue under the control of the flesh 
and care only for the world are under a law which 
leads to death ; and they who yield to the Spirit are 
under the control of a law which leads to a contin- 
uance of life. That is to say, the one class belong to 
the present changing and transient order; the other 
class have risen into an abiding order of spiritual 
existence. The life of the former class is fed from 
the earth which must fail ; the life of the other class 
is fed from God who endures. The former class 
belong to a temporary state; the latter class belong 
to an eternal state. 

The dividing line between these two classes may 
be invisible to man. The difference between the 
class below and the class above the dividing line 



Mans Place in Nature 75 

becomes more positive and distinct as the distance 
from the line increases. This is in accord with the 
development of life everywhere. Likenesses in liv- 
ing things which are similar exist in the earlier 
stages of growth and unlikenesses appear in the later 
stages. Wheat and rye, at first, as they stand in a 
field, look alike to an inexperienced eye; their dif- 
ferences are plainly visible at the harvest time. An 
oak and a maple, as they emerge from the ground, 
seem quite alike; they are quite unlike when full 
grown. The embryo of a dog and the embryo of a 
child, biologists say, look alike at certain periods be- 
fore birth; their differences are great after birth. 
A child of small intellectual power and a child of 
great intellectual power may seem much the same 
for the first few months or years of life; but the 
differences between them are very marked as time 
advances. The saint and the sinner may seem much 
the same to those who see only the outward expres- 
sion and whose standards of measurements are those 
of the parlor and the market-place; but the inward 
difference is there and the outward expression will 
become more and more marked with the passage of 
time. In intelligence, morality, politeness, and ac- 
tions pertaining to the present world, the citizens of 
the world and the citizens of the kingdom of heaven 
may seem alike to the untrained eye. But in spirit- 
ual insight, moral feeling, quality of thought, purity 
of affection, loftiness of aim, and purpose of living 
they may be widely different. 

Morality is freedom from vice and crime and 
from offensive attitude and injurious action on the 



76 The Secret of Successful Life 

part of men toward one another. Spirituality is the 
attitude and action of a soul towards God and to- 
wards the inner heart of things. A man who lives 
under the conditions of moral life which prevail to- 
day may have higher standards of conduct than 
the standards of a man who lived in the days of 
David. But it is possible that a man of the days 
of David, in point of spiritual sensibility and in 
aim and purpose of life, may have been a better 
man than a man of seemingly higher moral charac- 
ter to-day. A man reared in a cultured home may 
have finer manners than a man reared among rude 
people; but the man of ruder speech and action 
may, possibly, have a finer spirit than the more cul- 
tured man. A man must be judged by his inner life 
and not by his manners. Culture is largely the 
product of social opportunities; character is the 
product of choice and affection. 

We know that in every class of society and with 
every degree of culture, there are men who are ac- 
tuated mainly by the thought of self and there are 
men who are actuated by the thought of God. There 
are men whose aim in life is to please themselves, 
and there are men whose aim is to please God. 
There are men whose prayer, if they pray at all, is 
that God may do for them what they will; and 
there are men whose prayer is that they may do 
the will of God. There are men whose efforts 
are directed wholly to the securing of such things 
as wealth, position, and power, and there are men 
whose efforts are expended in loving and useful ser- 
vice. There are men who sacrifice the inner life 



Mans Place in Nature 77 

of the soul — such as love, truth, and justice, — for 
outward gain; and there are men who suffer the 
loss of outward things that they may keep the spirit 
true and pure. There are men who sell their souls 
to buy the world, and there are men who lose the 
world to save their souls. The former serve self, 
live in the flesh, and live for the world ; the latter 
serve God, live in the spirit and for the kingdom 
of heaven. 

The fundamental distinction between men lies in 
their thought of themselves as made for themselves, 
or as made for society. The essential character of 
men is determined by their sense of obligation to 
live unto themselves or to others. The rank of men 
is determined by the fact that they live to do their 
own will, or to do the will of God. Carlyle has 
said most truly: "A man's religion, not what he 
professes as a creed, but what he does absolutely 
think of himself in his relation to God and the 
world and to men is the most important thing about 
him. ,, 

The soul of all evil — though evil takes so many 
forms in choice and action — is selfishness. The 
soul of all good — though good takes so many forms 
in choice and action — is love. Love bows to a su- 
perior. Love walks in equity with an equal. Love 
stoops to an inferior. Love worships God. Love 
deals justly with man. Love shows mercy and 
confers grace where there is need. 

The natural man simply holding his place in 
nature and holding that place for himself, makes 
himself, in his thought and love, the center of the 



78 The Secret of Successful Life 

universe. The spiritual man makes God the center 
of his thought and love, and so the center of his 
universe. 

The natural man puts forth his tentacles of desire, 
thought and volition to gather for himself, and so 
infolds himself in loneliness, in darkness, and in 
death. The spiritual man puts forth his tentacles 
of aspiration, love, and will in worship and in de- 
votion to love and to duty, and so unfolds himself, 
dwelling in light and love immortal. So the spirit- 
ual man fulfills the eternal purpose of God. 



CHAPTER V 

Cooperation 

/^\ UTSIDE the windows where I write, lie gar- 
^^ dens, orchards, green fields, and hills covered 
with forest trees. The seeds in those gardens, or- 
chards, and distant hillsides would never have ger- 
minated and grown if there had been no sunshine, 
no showers, and no air. The physical heaven and 
the material earth cooperated to make those plants 
and trees. Substances of the soil, breath of the air, 
warmth of sunshine, and colors of light, are all in- 
wrought in the forms and beauty and fragrance of 
the vegetable kingdom. 

In those gardens and orchards, man also has 
cooperated with nature in bringing plants and trees 
to perfection. The world is so made that man may 
be a co-worker with his Creator. Beneath man, no 
animal cooperates with nature to change or to im- 
prove her products. Fish swim in waters, but they 
do not change the course of rivers. Birds gather 
seeds and, in an involuntary way sow them; but 
they do not improve the original plants. Beasts 
roam the forests, but they do not change the for- 
est into a harvest field. Man, however, by his 
knowledge, care, and skill, changes a purely natural 
product into something superior and finer. The 
Jacqueminot rose, the full-blown Chrysanthemum, 
and the generous, golden sunflower, are the result 
of man's care and toil. The name of the Concord 

79 



80 The Secret of Successful Life 

grape reminds one of the place where it originated, 
and the Baldwin apple preserves the name of the 
man who produced it. The fame of Burbank 
has spread across a continent from the wonders he 
has accomplished in producing new and improved 
forms of flowers and fruits. It has pleased the 
Creator to take man into partnership with himself 
in this great department of creation, that without 
man the highest perfection should not be attained. 

According to the story of the book of Genesis, 
man was placed in a garden "eastward in Eden to 
dress it and to keep it." And by this keeping and 
dressing, the garden bloomed in fairer beauty, and 
the man grew in intelligence and skill. 

Not alone in the vegetable kingdom, but also 
in the animal kingdom, man cooperates with nature. 
Such animals as have been domesticated by man, are 
larger and finer than any of their kind found in a 
wild state. Durham cattle have attained their 
size ; Jersey cattle, their beauty ; and merino sheep 
the fineness of their wool; under the care of man. 
Percheron horses have gained their fitness for draw- 
ing loads; English horses, their gentleness and spir- 
it; and Kentucky trotters, their speed, from gen- 
erations of careful training at the hands of man. 

But above this, and more to the credit of his 
genius and power, man has been made a partner 
with the Creator in the making of himself and his 
fellow men. By his efforts in the cultivation of 
plants and animals, man has improved them and 
has also improved himself. He has gained in self- 
control, power of mental concentration, kindness, 



Co-operation 8 1 



gentleness, and the qualities of a gracious life. Men 
have risen in the scale of being by the love, in- 
struction, and inspiring influence of the higher men 
of the race acting in wide reaches upon lower men. 

Schools, colleges, and churches all rest upon the 
fundamental principle that the lower must be served 
by the higher. It is by cooperation in education, in 
worship, and in ideals, that the race of mankind 
rises. Our civilization is the result of the continu- 
ous impartation and preservation of the best any 
man has acquired in thought, knowledge, culture, 
and character. For the preservation and perpetu- 
ation of the best of any generation, books are print- 
ed, libraries founded, schools conducted, and the 
elaborate machinery of education and civil govern- 
ment are established among men. The man who 
would receive most during his lifetime must be con- 
tent to be served by those higher than himself. The 
man who would do most during his lifetime must 
consent to serve. 

There are two forms of service in the world; 
service from compulsion wherein the weaker serves 
the stronger from fear and necessity, and service 
from love, wherein by an inward impulse the strong- 
er serves the weaker. The former service degrades ; 
the latter service elevates. Nothing is morally worse 
for both master and servant than slavery. Nothing 
is more beneficial than that relation of faith and 
love by which the lower receives the ministrations 
of the higher. Writers on social history sometimes 
justify slavery as a historic fact by claiming that 
slavery has been the means of training men in the 



82 The Secret of Successful Life 

habit of continuous labor and has, thereby, induced 
greater skill, efficiency, and character. There may 
be a measure of truth in this claim. The black 
slaves in the United States, in language, intelligence, 
and moral character reached a higher plane than 
their ancestors attained in Africa. Slavery in a 
measure civilized them. But the black people in the 
United States who, in the last fifty years, have been 
served by a host of white teachers quickening their 
intelligence and training them in manual skill, have 
risen to a much higher grade of life than their ances- 
tors who were slaves. The native tribes of South 
Africa who have been taught and trained by the 
loving ministry of missionaries have advanced in 
intelligence and efficiency far beyond what they 
would have achieved through any system of slavery 
and compulsory labor. It should also be noticed 
that no race ever has risen in slavery to the height 
to which men have risen in freedom. There must be 
the free choice of reception of service by faith, and 
the free choice of service in love, for the best devel- 
opment of mankind. 

The highest life ever lived on this earth was a life 
of voluntary service. Jesus said of himself: "I 
came forth from the Father and am come into the 
world. " "I came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister." "I am among you as he that serveth." 
Jesus revealed the great fact that the law of love, 
the law of service, is a law of the kingdom of 
heaven. Prior to the time of Jesus, men conceived 
of God as a Ruler; they hardly imagined that God 
stooped to serve. 



Co-operation 83 



The law of love is a law which God Himself 
obeys. Does not the act of creation place the Cre- 
ator in some relation of obligation to the creation? 

Does not the gift of life impose some obligation 
in respect of the care of life? Does not parentage 
carry in itself a sense of obligation to offspring? Par- 
ents placed on an otherwise uninhabited island 
where there is no government to impose laws and 
where there are no policemen to enforce laws, would 
feel in themselves a sense of responsibility, demand- 
ing service to the children born to them. In all 
parental life, the nature of the parent binds the par- 
ent to seek the welfare of the child. 

If God created man capable of communion with 
himself and needing that communion for his com- 
pletion; then, surely, God is under obligation on His 
part to give such communion to man. God's own 
nature and law of life and purpose bind Him to ful- 
fill that obligation. If man cannot be a complete 
being without God, then God is compelled to give 
Himself to man. This indebtedness is recognized in 
the Bible. 

Throughout the sacred scriptures, God insists, 
continually, on the fact that He is striving to ful- 
fill the indebtedness of His own love to men. Over 
and over again, God is represented as declaring that 
He has loved, sought, called, reached out His hands, 
and tried in every way to save and bless men. And, 
if there is failure, it is attributed, constantly, to the 
fact that men refuse to see, hear, heed, receive, and 
know the grace of God. The revelation, in the gos- 
pel, is the supreme manifestation of this impulse 



84 The Secret of Successful Life 

and compelling love on the part of God. "For God 
so loved the world that he gave His only begotten 
Son, that whosover believeth in Him should not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life." 

God becomes the supreme servant of man. God 
condescends to love, visit, renew, inspire, and lift up 
the man of humble heart, trustful spirit, and obedi- 
ent will. This accords with the law of life under 
the care of man. If plants and animals, in nature, 
reach their highest development under the loving 
care of man; is it strange that man is to reach 
his highest development under the care of God? 
If life from the kingdom just above the mineral 
kingdom, or life from the kingdom just above the 
vegetable kingdom, touches that which lies in the 
kingdom just beneath and lifts it into the kingdom 
above; is it not natural that life from the spiritual 
kingdom of heaven should touch the life of man and 
lift it into the kingdom of God? This, according 
to the gospel and the New Testament teaching, is 
precisely what is being done. 

Man's greatest achievement here, as elsewhere, 
lies in cooperation with God. Man's greatest achieve- 
ment in mechanical affairs is accomplished by placing 
his machinery so that the forces of wind, water, elec- 
tricity, and gravity play upon that machinery until 
it moves in accord with nature's forces. Man's 
greatest achievements in the sphere of morals and 
spirituality are accomplished by placing his affec- 
tions, intelligence, and will in obedient accord with 
God's love, thought, and will in the world. Great 
deeds are wrought not so much by great effort as 






Co-operation 85 



by complete surrender to the will of God. The love 
of God constrains the man who yields to it. As a 
rolling river carries on its way all smaller streams 
which flow into it, so God's great love and power, in 
things of the spirit, carry along the love and thought 
of every man who surrenders to them. This is what 
Saint Paul meant when he said : "The love of 
Christ constraineth me." Saint Paul had been serv- 
ed and saved by God. This fact brought him under 
the control of the law of God in his relation to un- 
saved men. Saint Paul said of himself: "I am a 
debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; 
both to the wise and to the unwise." This indebt- 
edness did not arise from any service which had been 
rendered to Saint Paul by the Greeks or Barbarians. 
The obligation rested upon Saint Paul not from 
any service rendered him, but by the ability con- 
ferred on him to render service. He had become a 
child of God through faith in Jesus. He had 
experienced the divine love in the pardon of his sins 
and in the gift of a new life. He who had received 
so much from God owed something to men who had 
received less. It was an obligation imposed by love. 
It was the indebtedness of power possessed. It was 
the ability to confer a benefit which impelled him 
to seek to confer that benefit. This is the law of 
life in all men who truly live with God. 

The two greatest qualities of soul and heart are 
faith and love. Faith is that attitude of the soul 
towards God which makes the soul of man recep- 
tive to the power which God stands ready to confer. 
Love is that quality of the heart which impels a 



86 The Secret of Successful Life 

man to worship God and to serve men. Without 
faith it is impossible to please God or to be saved. 
Without love, it is impossible to fulfil the divine law 
of life. Faith places the soul of man under the tui- 
tion and guidance of God. We may say as plant 
and animal arrive at the highest perfection through 
faith in man and obedience to him, so man rises to 
highest perfection through faith in God and obedi- 
ence to Him. According to the New Testament it 
is to the man who believeth, loveth, obeyeth, that the 
promises of God are given. All things are his, for 
he is Chrises and Christ is God's. 

Nature itself, properly interpreted, teaches men 
the law of love. The struggle for existence is not 
so much a struggle for personal and individual exis- 
tence, as a struggle for the existence of others. A 
child begins life in instinctive faith in maternal 
love, and a child's knowledge of that love is intui- 
tive. A child learns early to love its immediate 
family and to live in active cooperation with its 
family. A child soon learns that its welfare, its 
pleasure, and its success, lie in the keeping of the 
family or the tribe. The mistake which men have 
made in their history is in limiting good will to 
the tribe or the nation, and in regarding all who 
live without that limit as enemies. But the percep- 
tion of diversity of natural talents and skill which 
results in division of labor, the practice of trade 
which issues in commerce, and the necessity of deal- 
ing with wider groups than the family or tribe, 
reveal to men a larger relationship. The establish- 
ment of government and the enactment of laws 



Co-operation 87 



which at first mainly forbid injuries, but which soon 
enjoin duties also, train men in the perception and 
knowledge of the fact that individual good is best 
secured in cooperation with other men. The in- 
creasing areas within which wars are impossible and 
within which entire freedom of travel and trade 
exist, the increase of international and world-wide 
trade, and the establishment of international law 
by which nations are to be governed, all indicate 
increasing knowledge that in common faith, mutual 
good-will, and widespread cooperation, the highest 
welfare of men is to be attained. To him who can 
see into the heart of things, this shows that the law 
of love is the divine order of life as revealed in the 
very constitution of society. Distrust, hatred, and 
injury, such as mark a period of wars, lead naturally 
to degradation, destruction, and death. The bene- 
fits which are supposed to have followed wars arise 
either through the perception and knowledge of a 
higher form of civilization and life, such as an invad- 
ing people may get from travel as in the case of the 
invading Goths or the crusaders who returned home 
with new ideas of manufacture and learning, or else, 
the gains which follow wars, arise from the increas- 
ed activities which war has demanded or made neces- 
sary. The real gain, comes from increased 
knowledge, inventive skill, and practical applica- 
tion of quickened intellect and trained cooperative 
power to the practical affairs of life. Gain to men 
never comes directly to mankind through individ- 
ualism and destruction, but only indirectly. Gain 
comes directly through socialism and construction. 



88 The Secret of Successful Life 

The law of love, which is the way of mutual 
good-will and mutual service, is the law of life for 
mankind. This fact is coming to be understood as 
never before. This is partly because men see the 
advantage of cooperation in all lines of effort. The 
age of individualism is passing. The age of dem- 
ocracy in politics, of combination in business, of 
cooperation in social service has come. Large em- 
pires and republics, international law, world-wide 
commerce, increasing control and oversight of pri- 
vate business, sanitary legislation, public education, 
increasing social cooperation, and many other things 
all reveal the practical operation of the principle of 
love in the world. The individual man counts for 
little alone; he counts for much with others. The 
chief value of a man to himself and to the world, 
consists in his being a member of society. Even in 
the highest form of human life this is true. Indi- 
vidual salvation is essential for entrance into the 
kingdom of heaven. But even individual salvation 
is perfected by one's becoming part of a renewed 
society. The best things now, as in the ancient econ- 
omy of grace, are withheld from men for a time 
because an individual without others cannot be made 
perfect. 

As one may think God's great thoughts after 
him in scientific knowledge, in mechanical motions, 
and in artistic forms, so one may think God's great 
thoughts after him in the ways of spiritual mo- 
tives, social relations, and serviceable activities in 
life. The eternal life and the divine law of love 
are declared to be revealed in Jesus; they are cer- 



Co-operation 89 



tainly illustrated in his words and works. The 
true life of man is secured by fellowship with Jesus. 
There can be no truly successful life to any man 
apart from that faith which brings divine power 
into him, and apart from that love which leads him 
to worship and to serve. 

Jesus lived among men as one who served, and 
he bade his disciples live in the same manner. Their 
relation to Him must be vital, like that of branches 
to a vine; docile, like that of pupils to a teacher; 
submissive, like that of servants to a master; obedi- 
ent, like that of subjects to a king. As the Father 
loved Jesus so He loved His disciples; as He loved 
them, so they were to love ; as He had lived, so they 
were to live; as He had served, so they were to 
serve. They had received freely, they were to give 
freely. They had obtained power, they were to use 
power. They were to heal the sick; to cast out 
demons; to preach the gospel; and to bring the 
kingdom of heaven to pass. 

Whatever one may think of the original gift of 
power to the disciples by which they wrought 
changes in the world miraculously ; it is evident that 
in the long course of Christian history, demons have 
been cast out, disease has been conquered, minds 
have been made sane, and love has been generated in 
the hearts of men by slow processes working accord- 
ing to the laws of the spirit rather than by miracles. 
Those who have followed Jesus in love, have added 
their contribution to the sum of human welfare; 
even when they could not point to specific cases 
wherein changes were wrought by power proceeding 



90 The Secret of Successful Life 

from them. The loving heart and kind spirit, like 
unseen flowers which breathe their fragrance on the 
passing air, sweeten and perfect the society of hu- 
man kind. All such persons fulfill the divine con- 
dition of a growing and perfect life. They obey, 
though unconsciously, the apostolic command, 
"Work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling; for it is God which worketh in you 
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." They 
become "workers together with Him." They live 
in the divine light, walk in the divine love, and 
fulfill the divine will in feeling, thought, purpose, 
and expressed power of their life. 

No life can be successful unless it conforms to the 
divine requirement of communion. Any life to be 
successful must commune both with God and with 
men by receiving and by imparting. Any person 
who attempts to be simply receptive and absorbent, 
to partake of the good gifts of God and to make no 
effort to serve God and man, will fail in the end. 
The self-centered, selfish, absorbent life will become 
diseased in affection, perverted from the truth in 
thought, debased in purpose, enslaved in will ; and 
so, both by its own action and by the laws of the 
kingdom of spirits, will be separated from the cur- 
rent of the divine life and will be thrown at last like 
flotsam, on the shores of time, and will have no 
place or part in the eternal kingdom. 

On the other hand, any life which accepts the 
will and the way of God as that will and way 
are revealed in the constitution of nature and in the 
enlightened conscience, and which expands and ex- 



Co-operation 91 



presses itself in love will grow sweet in spirit, pure 
in affection, true in tenor of thought, generous in 
sympathy, rich in graciousness, and large in influ- 
ence and in service. Such a life will move in the 
current of the divine life in history, and will have a 
place and a part in the eternal kingdom. 

The particular sphere of life in which one finds 
himself, may not be of his own choosing; but the 
spirit in which one wills to live is his own. Every 
man must control his own feelings, cherish his own 
imagination, think his own thoughts, sing his own 
song, paint his own picture, build his own house, 
and coniplete his own work. The place of his birth 
and the material given him with which to work 
are not of man's choice; but what he will do with 
the material at hand is his own choice. A man's 
purpose is his own; if there is a flaw in the mate- 
rial given him which mars the work, he is not re- 
sponsible for that. A man is measured by what he 
attempts to do. When that attempt is according to 
the divine will, then he is a workman together with 
God. If conditions arise which check and limit the 
expression of the power which is within him, then, 
like the King of Israel who desired to build a house 
to the honor of God, but could not; he will be 
praised for what was within his heart. 

Love, however, is irrepressible and where love ex- 
ists there will be found some mode of expression. A 
life inspired by love will come to blossom and to 
fruitage. In the sphere of the spirit, love can 
know no final failure. The divine blessing, accord- 



92 The Secret of Successful Life 

ing to Jesus, is pronounced not upon him who has 
accomplished some visible thing, but upon him 
whose spirit is right. The humble, the pure, the 
loving, the merciful, the gracious are blessed. 
One's union with the divine kingdom is not depen- 
dent upon his visible achievement, but upon his love. 
" Every one who loveth is born of God and know- 
eth God." 

The flower growing in the field cannot tell how 
much of the force which builds it up is rising from 
the soil, and how much is flowing from the sun- 
shine ; the ship on the sea cannot tell how much of 
the force which impels it comes from the waves of 
the ocean, and how much is from the winds of 
heaven; the child in school cannot tell how much 
of his increasing intellectual power is due to his own 
effort, and how much is due to the inspiring influ- 
ence of his teacher; the soldier marching to battle 
cannot tell how much of his courage is his own, and 
how much comes from the companionship of the 
marching army; and the man who is cooperating 
with God cannot tell how much of his power is his 
own, and how much is directly and indirectly from 
God ; he can know only that he is growing in love 
and in power of ministry, in peace and in joy of ser- 
vice, in worship and in delight in doing the will of 
God. 

A scheme of world history, such as is made known 
to us in the constitution of the world, in the gospel 
of grace, and in the promises of great things yet to 
be, makes possible to men participation in the prog- 



Co-operation 93 



ress and in the results of such history, and affords 
to men opportunity to become great through faith 
and love. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Incarnation 

'TpHE marvel of spring when fields which have 
A been brown are clothed in living green, when 
flowers like arbutus and violets and dandelions ap- 
pear, when trees so recently bare and seemingly dead 
are clothed with delicate green leaves, when blos- 
soms white as driven snow and pink as a baby's 
Jhand crown the orchards in profusion is an annual 
miracle. To the man of seeing eye and discerning 
mind, this wealth of vegetable life and beauty is 
a revelation of the wisdom, intelligence, and power 
of the Creator. It shows something of which the 
mineral kingdom has not spoken. It reveals much 
of God; but it leaves much unrevealed which the 
heart would gladly know. Men beholding all this, 
still seek after God if haply, by the spirit, they may 
find Him and finding Him, by the spirit, may be 
satisfied. There is needed a more complete revela- 
tion of God than nature affords. 

We cannot say that all power is life, but we can 
say that all life is power. In our world, at least, 
power expresses itself in material movements, by 
changing the position of material things or their 
relation one to another. Power, thus, expresses it- 
self by what may be called an incarnation of force. 
When by an act of my will, I lift a book from a 
desk, the movement of that material thing is the 

94 



The Incarnation 95 



visible expression of the power of my will. Emo- 
tion, thought, and will clothe themselves in mater- 
ial form. 

Music is a spiritual emotion, but music clothes 
itself in air, shapes the air in billowy waves which 
throb and thrill with feeling, enters the open ear, 
and touches the listening soul until that soul throbs 
and thrills with the same feeling. Music is a uni- 
versal language. 

Thought is a mental emotion, but thought clothes 
itself in vocal or in written speech and, thereby, be- 
comes perceptible to ear or eye, and so intelligible 
to a receptive mind. 

Love is a feeling, an affection of the heart, but 
love embodies itself in smile or in sigh, in tone or in 
tear, in touch or caress and, thereby, makes itself 
known and felt. 

All life in this world, from the life of the lowliest 
flower to the life of the highest man, is known 
through an incarnation, and by means of physical 
expression. But life itself is something other than 
the material in which it is embodied and through 
which it is expressed. 

Chemically, the material may all be there and 
yet there may be no life. Chemically, the material 
in which life has dwelt may all remain and yet the 
life may be gone. That which is lacking in the 
former case and lost in the latter case, is the soul 
of what lived. What that soul is, no man knows. 
In the study of biology, by sight and touch and by 
knife and microscope, I found that life itself always 
eluded my touch and sight. Life is a mysterious 



96 The Secret of Successful Life 

force which seizes, moves, and changes the material 
in which it is embodied. Life, also, has its own 
peculiar quality independent of the material in 
which it dwells. Two trees may stand in the same 
field, may feed on the same soil, may drink the 
same showers, may bask in the same sunshine, and 
yet may differ radically in form, flower, fragrance, 
and fruit. Everything else being the same, that 
mysterious somewhat which we call life must make 
the difference. We classify vegetation according to 
form, fiber, blossom, and fruit. We classify animals 
according to disposition, intelligence, and habits of 
life. In such classification, man easily stands at the 
head of creation. Men differ immensely from one 
another. The difference in intelligence, morality, 
and spirituality between the lowest specimens of 
primitive and barbarous men and the highest types 
of civilized and cultured men is very great; yet 
there is no difficulty in classifying all men in the 
family of mankind. 

One person alone has appeared among men with 
such a heart of holy love and such a spirit of 
supreme service that men have found difficulty in 
classfying him. Jesus alone has transcended ordin- 
ary classification. Who Jesus is, is a question whose 
solution men sought and still seek. Men of the 
time of Jesus did not find Him to be a product of 
His race, or age or environment. They said that he 
was an old prophet returned again; or a modern 
prophet, like John the Baptist, risen from 
the dead; or a superiorly gifted prophet; 
or a demonized man; or a son of God in 



The Incarnation 97 

some special sense; or "The Son of the living God." 
For nineteen centuries, men have found Jesus to be 
singular, unique, supreme in the sphere of the spirit, 
and their most common conclusion has been that he 
is the Son of God. 

This title, historically and according to the rec- 
ord, was not given to Jesus by men because of an 
angelic announcement at his advent, nor because of 
singularity of birth, nor because of claims put forth 
by Jesus himself; but because of the impression 
made by his life on the minds of them who knew him 
best. Jesus did not begin his public life by announc- 
ing singularity of birth and divinity of nature. Jesus 
simply lived his life and let it speak for itself. A 
rose does not declare its beauty, it simply blooms; 
it does not announce its sweetness, it simply breathes 
it on the air. So Jesus simply lived His life, spoke 
His words, did His works and, then, men called 
Him the Son of God. When, near the close of his 
life, in answer to His own question "Who do you 
say I am?" those who had accompanied Him most 
intimately exclaimed in a burst of admiring faith, 
"Thou art the Son of God" ; Jesus pronounced that 
conception as a blessed one. He said that concep- 
tion of Him did not arise from human superstition, 
but from divine revelation of the Father. He said 
that definition proceeded from inward illumination, 
spiritual vision, and true knowledge. He said that 
on that truth He would build His church. And a 
little later He said to men of such faith, "He that 
hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 
The impression which a man leaves on the minds 



98 The Secret of Successful Life 

of men and on the world, reveals what he himself 
has been. Mention Phidias, and you think of sculp- 
ture; mention Raphael, and you think of painting; 
mention Newton, and you think of science; men- 
tion Beethoven, and you think of music; mention 
Jesus, and you think of God. The impression which 
a die makes, shows what the die is. The impression 
which a man makes, shows what the man is. The 
impression which Jesus made on the minds of men, 
and which he continues to make, is not a new 
thought of men but a new thought of God. 

This is worth considering. Think of it. It was 
not a new thought of the value and meaning of man 
which led the apostles to adopt the life of evan- 
gelists and missionaries. It was new thought of 
God. God loved the world — not the Jews only — 
and so they should love the world. "God hath 
showed me," said Peter to the Roman captain, 
Cornelius, "that I should call no man common or 
unclean." Therefore, Peter was willing to give 
the hand of fellowship to the Gentiles, and welcome 
them into the church. The conceptions of the apos- 
tles were so changed that they said: "In point of 
classification,, opportunity, privilege, there can be 
'neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, 
neither male nor female. , " "God's love," they 
said, "has been shown in the life and sufferings of 
Jesus, and his love constrains us. We are will- 
ing to live and to suffer for the salvation of men." 
It was God's love, God's judgment of men, God's 
action, and God's effort which impressed them and 
made them willing to put away former thoughts and 



The Incarnation 99 



to live as the love of God had lived in the person 
of Jesus. God loved the world, and they, too, 
should love the world. God's love as it had ap- 
peared in Jesus, had given itself for them, and they 
should love as He had loved. 

That which the apostles first preached as revealed 
and published in the life of Jesus was not new 
ethics or a new sociology, but a new theology. They 
preached the Father who had revealed Himself 
through a Son. "In former times, " they said, "God 
spoke to our fathers in prophets, but now He hath 
spoken to us in a Son." They worshipped God 
not as King, but as Father. They obeyed God not 
as servants, but as sons. As a result of this faith 
and this worship, they taught that the distinctions 
which had existed between men were fortuitous and 
should be abolished. They taught that men should 
be brothers. Their sociology followed their the- 
ology. 

In all this description, there is no intention of de- 
nying or making little of any statements of the 
New Testament respecting the conception and birth 
of Jesus, but only the intention of emphasizing the 
greatness of His personality. Jesus' character 
showed love; His works, power; His words, spirit 
and life. The effect of Jesus' life upon men was 
to make them new creations in love, purpose, and 
power of holy living. The effect of Jesus' life was 
such that men felt that He could not be accounted 
for by the common lines of heredity, education, and 
environment. Jesus' life was so full, so rich, so 
life-giving that men felt that it must spring from 



ioo The Secret of Successful Life 

some higher source than the lives of other men. 

How that life came to be, like the coming of all 
life, is a mystery. Life was not, life is. Whence 
it comes, who knows? How it comes, who can 
tell ? The ordinary processes of sowing seed and of 
physical generation, the growth of plants and of 
bodies is something known, — but life itself, in its 
origin and nature is unknown. Life is the name 
we apply to that secret, silent, potent power which 
vivifies, shapes, and completes any living thing. 

All life is of God. He is the living essence in the 
universe. He is the giver of life. His touch vivi- 
fies. His breath quickens. His spirit imparts in- 
telligent and moral life. He speaks, and things 
grow: 

But with every stage of increasing life, something 
is added which was not before. There is something 
in vegetation which was not in the mineral; that 
something is life. There is something in an ani- 
mal which was not in a plant; that is more life. 
There is something in man in capacity and possibil- 
ity which was not in the animal; that is still more 
life. There is something in Jesus which was not 
in man; that, too, is more life. Man, in respira- 
tion and the circulation of blood, is akin to vegeta- 
tion; and, in nervous structure and feeling man is 
akin to the whole animal kingdom; but there is 
something in man which is not in the vegetable nor 
in the animal below man. Jesus in physical and 
psychical nature is like man and akin to him: but 
Jesus in moral and spiritual nature transcends man. 

"The invisible things of God," says Saint Paul, 



The Incarnation ioi 



"are clearly seen being perceived through the things 
that are made, even His everlasting power and di- 
vinity." Power is seen in the roll of a locomotive, 
and power is seen in the revolution of a world. Wis- 
dom is seen in the construction of a watch, and wis- 
dom is seen in the construction of a plant. But who 
can tell from a locomotive what is the moral char- 
acter of its maker? Who can tell from a watch 
what is the ruling principle of the man who made 
it? Who can tell from the material universe, so 
expressive of intelligence and power, what is the 
moral character of its Creator? How shall love, 
mercy, pity, compassion, and grace, if they be in 
God, be made to appear to men ? The sun does not 
change its face whether its beams brighten or burn 
the face of man. The sea does not change its swell 
or its sound whether it carries the ship of man on its 
waves or swallows that ship in its depths. A gen- 
eral benevolence may appear in the course of na- 
ture, but specific love is never shown. How shall 
a God of love who, loving, obeys love's great law of 
sacrifice be made known? 

The New Testament says: "God so loved the 
world that He gave His Son for men." It also 
says: "Hereby know we love, because He laid 
down His life for us." Jesus has revealed what 
nature has not spoken and cannot speak. After 
Jesus' revelation was given, then, an account of His 
coming into the world could be given. This we 
have in the New Testament. 

Perhaps it had been as well if the Greek mind 
never had attempted to define the person of Christ. 



102 The Secret of Successful Life 

Light, life and love are indefinable. They may be 
described, but they transcend definition. Christ 
loved the world and became the light of the world 
and the life of the world; but, like light and life, 
He cannot be defined. But men naturally desire 
definition. Much that has been written about the 
person of Christ has been an attempt to make a 
mystery comprehensible to the human mind. Men 
have described Christ as "the God-Man" consist- 
ing of two natures, in one person, subsisting side 
by side, like oil and water, each with its own quali- 
ties and its own actions, but ever distinct. The 
simple statement of the New Testament, namely, 
that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto 
himself, " is better. This is a statement of fact. 
What Christ is, is of value. How he came to be, 
might be left unknown or to be known later. 

However, if men seek an explanation of the 
source and method of the life and character of Jesus ; 
it seems to me, there is no more simple, natural, and 
scientific setting forth of the case than that given by 
Saint Luke in the introduction of his gospel. 

There is a disposition on the part of many to 
deny or to doubt the story of the birth of Jesus as 
related by Saint Luke. This arises largely, I 
think, from certain teaching of modern times which 
tends to create a feeling that, since the first creation, 
nothing new or extraordinary has happened in the 
world. But Jesus is something both new and ex- 
traordinary. Much is made of the fact that, with 
the exception of Matthew and Luke, none of the 
other New Testament authors tell the story of the 



The Incarnation 103 



birth of Jesus. But we must remember that the 
Fourth Gospel according to John says: That "the 
Word which in the beginning was with God and 
was God became flesh and dwelt among us." The 
First Epistle of John says: "The life was mani- 
fested, and we have seen it and bear witness and 
declare unto you the eternal life which was with the 
Father and was manifested unto us." The author 
of The Epistle to the Hebrews says: "God having 
spoken unto the fathers in the prophets hath spoken 
unto us in His Son whom He appointed heir of all 
things, through whom also He made the worlds." 
Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, says: 
"In Him were all things created in the heavens and 
upon the earth — all things have been created through 
Him, and unto Him: and He is before all things 
and in Him all things consist." The denial of the 
truth of the narrative by Saint Luke does not sim- 
plify matters, or leave any explanation of a method 
by which such an "eternal life" and transcendant 
person became incarnate and lived among men. 

Saint Luke's statement seems to me, personally, the 
most simple and the most satisfactory account of the 
person of Jesus, the Christ, which ever has been 
given. A few facts concerning life as we know it 
are worth noticing in this connection. Life is a 
mysterious something which shapes and rules every 
living creature. In the case of animals and men — 
whatever may be the life of each physical cell — even 
if we regard an animal body as a community of 
cells — the unifying force which makes one plant or 
one animal, and gives continuity to the life, is the 



104 The Secret of Successful Life 

soul. The body continually changes, but the soul 
constantly remains. The psyche in beast and in 
man is the formative power which shapes the body, 
determines the actions, and makes the character. 
Each creature is like its prenatal disposition, that is, 
its psyche or soul. A bull dog whose nature is to 
seize and to hold on, has a body and jaws suited for 
that purpose. A hound is moulded before its birth 
for the race. A deer and an elephant, a draft horse 
and a race horse, are shaped by an inner nature and 
each animal is fitted for the life it must lead. 
Among men, character is like the physique, because 
the character forms the physique. Every gifted and 
great man is endowed before his birth and is ordain- 
ed to be poet or painter, sculptor or scholar, prince 
or prophet, before his birth. Whether men claim 
the power to read character from the head, from the 
features and expression of the face, or from the lines 
on the hand, the claim is based upon the physical 
correspondence with the inner life. 

Through the body, life is revealed and we see it, 
read it, and know it. A German philosopher, Scho- 
penhauer, in his treatise on The World As Will 
and Idea, writing on heredity and with no thought 
of Jesus in mind, makes these suggestive statements : 
"If now we cast upon this problem, the light of our 
fundamental knowledge that the will is the true 
being, the kernal, the radical element, in man; and 
the intellect, on the other hand, is what is secondary, 
adventitious, the accident of that substance; before 
questioning experience we will assume as at least 
probable that the father as sexus potior and the pro- 



The Incarnation 105 



creative principle, imparts the basis, the radical ele- 
ment of the new life, thus the will and the mother, 
as sexus sequior and merely conceiving principle, im- 
parts the secondary element, the intellect; that thus 
the man inherits his moral nature, his character, his 
inclinations, his heart from the father, and, on the 
other hand, the grade, quality, and tendency of his 
intelligence from the mother. Now this assumption 
actually finds its confirmation in experience ; only 
this cannot be decided by a physical experiment upon 
the table, but results partly from the careful and 
acute observation of many years, and partly from 
history," 

This theory may not be capable of proof, but it is 
suggestive in relation to the common theory of the 
Christian church in respect of the person of Jesus. 
In Him, derived from His mother, feeling, thought, 
emotion and passion in all ways are most truly hu- 
man and common to men ; and the spiritual quality 
and moral tone of His life are truly divine and coin- 
cide with what is in God the Father. 

Xow in this connection, let us read the story given 
us by Saint Luke. He says that he traced carefully 
all things from the first so as to give the earliest 
traditional belief concerning the birth and life of 
Jesus. Saint Luke tells us that the angel in declar- 
ing to Man* how the promised Son should come, 
said : "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the 
power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: 
wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten 
of thee shall be called the Son of God." This may 
be translated, "That which is to be born, shall be 



106 The Secret of Successful Life 

called holy, the Son of God." 

God is a spirit, and the soul of Mary, touched 
and filled by the Spirit divine, was the immediate 
source of that soul, that living essence, which filled 
and formed the living germ from which the body of 
her child grew, and that child thus begotten and 
born was the embodiment and the expression of the 
eternal life and of the divine love. So the divine 
life imparted itself and centered itself in humanity. 
So the child, one in life and one in personality, hu- 
man in condition and divine in disposition, entered 
the world and was called the Son of man and the 
Son of God. In appetite, passion, intellect, and all 
elements of human nature He was the brother of 
men. In spiritual quality and moral tone, He was 
the Son of God. So God was in Christ who became 
thereby the image of the invisible God. So the 
divine life in its spirituality dwelt in Him, and was 
revealed through Him. 

I venture the above suggestions as being in accord 
with what we know to be true with respect to the 
relation of the soul and the body in the animal 
kingdom, as being in accord with respect to much 
that we know to be true of man in natural generation, 
as being in accord with the promise made to Mary 
by the angel, and as being true with respect to the 
revelation of God made in Jesus Christ. 

I do not make these suggestions ex cathedra as a 
philosophy which another must accept. I make these 
suggestions tentatively as a possible theory which 
may relieve the minds of some persons who accept 
the New Testament record, but are troubled because 



The Incarnation 107 



of ideas suggested by the material side of physical 
birth. I do not claim to explain a mystery, but only 
to put forth a suggestion which seems a reasonable 
interpretation of the manner of the incarnation. 

In Jesus there was a life which in its spiritual 
quality, expression, and power, men felt and still 
feel to be superior to all other life in this world. 
Had the life of Jesus in its source and in its quality 
been just the same as the life of every man; had the 
beauty and the power of the life of Jesus been due 
simply to the fact that He willingly received more 
fully of the divine spirit than other men ; had Jesus 
merely illustrated what is possible for other men; 
then, ere this time, He should have been equalled by 
other men. But Jesus remains apart, distinct and 
supreme. Men see in Him, and not in His disciples 
of any age, the image of the invisible God. Men 
do not look to any of His disciples, but to Him for 
the gift of life. Men give praise, not to any of His 
disciples, nor to the entire body of believers, but to 
Him for salvation. Were Jesus simply the first 
among many, this could not be the case. Others 
would share His position in the thoughts of men and 
share also His power and His glory. Men never 
think of placing Paul, nor any other person in the 
place of Christ. 

This unique and transcendent position could not 
be held age after age, were there not something in 
Jesus to justify it. Men who cannot tell in any 
single instance whence life comes, nor how it comes, 
nor what it is, but who in every instance know it 
and designate it by what it does, need not be sur- 



108 The Secret of Successful Life 

prised at the inexplicable mystery of the life of Jesus. 
They need not be surprised that the church, with 
well-nigh universal uniformity, has held fast to the 
doctrine of divine incarnation. The church which 
believes that God has spoken in many prophets by 
inspiration believes that He has spoken more vitally 
in a Son. The church believes that he who sees the 
Son, sees the Father who sent Him. This knowl- 
edge of God, however, is not primarily an intellec- 
tual knowledge which one may measure and mark 
limits and comprehend as one may know a material 
thing. It is, rather, the knowledge of faith and love 
which sees and feels and enjoys as a growing child 
sees and feels and enjoys a mother. It is a knowl- 
edge of the heart. 

It is the moral nature of God, His sentiment, 
feeling, and will towards men, which Jesus makes 
known. Save the one statement that God is a spirit, 
Jesus says nothing about the metaphysical nature 
of God. Jesus tells what God does in making the 
sun to rise and the rain to fall upon good and evil 
men alike; what God feels in that He loves the 
world; what God suffers in that He loves with 
sympathy; what God knows in that He knows the 
need of every saint; what God hears in that He 
listens to the cry of the needy; what God wills in 
that it is His will to save and to keep every trustful 
soul which seeks Him. Jesus' revelation is not de- 
signed to satisfy the curiosity of the mind, but to 
meet the need of the humble, penitent, and trust- 
ful heart. 

What a man may know by intellectual perception, 



The Incarnation 109 



analysis, and reasoning, is always inferior to the man 
himself. What a man may know by trust and love, 
and by communion and obedience is superior to 
himself. The world by wisdom — that is by intellec- 
tual acumen and apprehension — knew not God and 
knows Him not. The world by wisdom will never 
know God's Son, but he who by faith knows the 
Father, will know the Son, and he who by love 
knows the Son will know the Father. 

It is not by arbitrary choice and unreasonable 
action on the part of God, but by nature of a trust- 
ful spirit and a teachable mind that things hidden 
from the wise and prudent are revealed unto babes. 
A child is not the equal of a philosopher in intellec- 
tual acumen and knowledge, but, in the sphere of the 
spirit, things which are hidden from the philosopher 
may be revealed to the child because he is using the 
proper organ. One can never perceive light by 
the ear, or learn music by the eye, or know the 
things of the spirit by the intellect. "The natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; 
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he 
know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things." It is 
true that one may learn the symbols of music by the 
eye, and that he may state by the intellect things 
which are known by the heart; but music itself 
must be learned by the ear and the things of the 
heart must be known by the heart itself. The man 
who loves, knows God ; because God is love. 

Jesus praised Peter, when Peter called Him "The 
Son of God." Jesus promised to build His church 



no The Secret of Successful Life 

upon this fact and on this confession. But there is 
no record of Jesus' requiring a definition of His 
person as a condition of receiving healing from sick- 
ness, or salvation from sin. What Jesus did require 
was faith, that is, belief in His ability to help and 
in His power to save. According to faith, the bless- 
ing came. Unbelief was the only limit. The limi- 
tation was in man, not in Jesus. In some places, 
Jesus did not many mighty works, because of their 
unbelief. To one who sought a blessing from Him, 
Jesus said, "All things are possible to him that be- 
lieveth." 

The leper who knelt at the feet of Jesus needed 
only faith to say, "Lord, if Thou wilt, thou canst 
make me clean," to feel the power of the cleansing 
life. The woman who touched the hem of Jesus' 
garment needed only faith to say, "If I but touch, 
I shall be healed," to be made whole. The sinful 
woman who wept over the feet of Jesus as He 
reclined at table, needed only faith to believe that 
He would pardon to hear Him say, "Thy sins are 
forgiven; go in peace." 

Zaccheus, the publican of local ill-repute, needed 
only the faith which would grant hospitality to Jesus 
to hear Him say, "This day is salvation come to this 
house." The penitent thief on the cross needed 
only faith to lay the bruised and broken remnant 
of a misspent life on the breast of Jesus to hear 
Him say, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in para- 
dise." 

According to the record given in The Acts of the 
Apostles, the apostolic church required, as a condi- 



The Incarnation in 



tion of church membership, three things, namely: 
repentance from sin; belief that Jesus, whom men 
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, is the 
Son of God ; and belief that through Him forgive- 
ness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit are given 
to them who believe. Baptism was the symbol of 
the washing away of sins and the Lord's Supper 
was the visible pledge of spiritual communion. No 
verbal statement of the manner of the incarnation 
and of Jesus' advent; no definition of the meta- 
physical nature of Jesus' person; no theory of the 
method of his atonement; no description of the 
processes of the new life was demanded as a condi- 
tion of discipleship and of membership in the church. 
This was both wise and well. 

Few men, in any department of life, care for 
scientific knowledge or for philosophic statement of 
the nature and relation of the things with which 
they deal. Practical knowledge is what most men 
desire and what they use. Scientists and philoso- 
phers, however useful, are few in number. Most 
men believe in the things which they use without 
scientific knowledge of them and the practical ends 
of life are well served. This is quite as true in 
spiritual, as in material, things. 

It is natural for men, especially for some men, to 
formulate their thought of what they have learned 
and experienced, and creeds are a natural expres- 
sion of Christian belief. A creed stated in simple 
language and used for liturgical purposes may be 
valuable. But a creed used as a fence to exclude 
from the communion of the church is a mistake. 



112 The Secret of Successful Life 

Truth preached for purposes of instruction and in- 
spiration is valuable, but the creed of a man must 
be a growth of his own experience, whether he 
states that creed in his own language or in the 
language of another. 

It has been a mistake for men to formulate an in- 
tellectual and philosophical creed, — like the Atha- 
nasian creed, for example, with its fine distinctions 
of the persons of the Trinity and of the person of 
Jesus Christ, — and to make the acceptance of its 
propositions a condition of receiving salvation. This, 
as in the case of the above creed, has been done, 
"Whosoever will be saved; before all things it is 
necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which 
Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled : 
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. " 

The Greeks, with their love of philosophical spec- 
ulation and of scientific analysis, gave to the church 
that habit of mind which produced the Ecumenical 
creeds. The Romans with their love of law and 
power gave to the church that complex organization 
which issued in the papacy. The Reformation 
broke the authority of the latter for the Protestant 
churches; but the Reformation retained the philo- 
sophic method of the former and imposed elaborate 
creeds upon Protestant churches. 

After centuries of contention, division, and expe- 
rience, the Protestant churches are slowly coming 
back to "the simplicity which is in Christ." In re- 
ligion, the heart is more than the head. Valuable 
as clear conceptions and even definitions are, it is not 
intellectual knowledge of truth stated in philosoph- 



The Incarnation 113 



ical terms, but faith in a Person which secures sal- 
vation, and love for persons, which fulfills the law 
of Christian living. Jesus has given faith, which 
is trust, and love, which is devotion, the supreme 
place in the Christian system and in the soul of man. 
Jesus has declared that faith is the condition of sal- 
vation, and that love is the expression and fulfill- 
ment of salvation. Faith, therefore, entitles a man 
to membership in the Christian church, and love is 
the evidence of his worthiness for such member- 
ship. This the church is coming more and more to 
see and to accept. This fact does not arise from 
a denial of the faith even in an intellectual form ; 
but from that love which admits gradation in 
knowledge and which permits differences of opinion 
in the sphere of the intellect, where men seeing in 
part and knowing in part, always have differed and 
always will differ, and which asserts that the basis 
of Christian union is a common faith in a com- 
mon Lord and a common love as the motive of 
righteous living. 

This is what the church must come to in prac- 
tical unity, if there is to be efficiency in a community 
where there should be only one church. This is the 
condition to which the church must come, if there 
is to be united power in withstanding the evil which 
is in the world. This liberty must be allowed, if men 
are to be permitted to think. It must be allowed if 
the best thinkers are permitted to lead. It must be 
admitted, if men trust the truth. It must be admit- 
ted, if we believe with Jesus that "every one that 
is of the truth cometh to the light, and that every 



114 The Secret of Successful Life 

one that loveth, knoweth God." 

Certain results have followed the revelation of 
God in Jesus Christ, and, historically, have followed 
the course of the gospel of grace. 

First, polytheism has passed and is passing away. 
Whatever may be said of polytheism as an attempt 
on the part of men to give expression to their con- 
ception of the divine being or of divine beings, it re- 
sults, always, in crudeness of worship, in carnality 
of life, and in destruction of belief in human broth- 
erhood. Where each race or tribe has its own god 
or gods, there can be no true unity among men. The 
preaching of the gospel has been followed, always, 
by the passing away of polytheism. Its temples have 
fallen ; its altars have crumbled ; its idols have dis- 
appeared. Throughout Christendom, men have 
come to believe in one God. 

Second, through the revelation of God in Jesus 
Christ, men have come to believe in God as a 
Father. The imperial idea of God gives place 
to the paternal idea of God. This does not mean 
that the conception of divine power has passed away, 
but that power is infused with love and adminis- 
tered in grace. There is more power, in some ways, 
in the family than in the state ; in a father than in 
a king, but the administration is different, and its 
design in love is more apparent. Throughout 
Christendom, men's idea of God is that of a 
Father. 

Third, following the revelation of God in Jesus 
Christ has come the conception of human brother- 
hood. Slowly, alas, too slowly, is brotherhood be- 



The Incarnation 115 



Heved and practiced ; but it is coming. It has been 
coming ever since Jesus taught men to pray saying, 
"Our Father," and taught them to love as He loved. 
Nothing was more marked in the church in the first 
instance than the passing of Jewish narrowness and 
the admission of Gentiles to brotherhood in the 
church. Men who had been unwilling to eat with 
Gentiles saw that God would have them call no 
man unclean because of his race or nationality. If 
God is one and loves the whole race of mankind, 
then, men must love their fellowmen everywhere. 
Slowly, this fact has been received as a doctrine, and 
more slowly has it been admitted in practice ; but its 
reception as a truth is gaining rapidly now and is be- 
coming an obsession in many minds. It must prac- 
tically rule the world. It is a truth which came 
with Jesus and it must rule where he is King. It 
must be held that He who does not love men, can- 
not love God. 

Fourth, following the revelation of the law of 
love as the law of life in Jesus Christ, has come the 
belief in the law of service for all men. Service 
always has been in the world but, too frequently, 
it has been the service of the many to the few and 
of the weak to the strong. It has been a servile 
service from which strong men have sought exemp- 
tion. But since Jesus lived as one who served and 
showed that service is the law of life to which 
even God himself is subject, service has been seen 
as a liberty of love which glorifies. Strong men 
may well yield obedience to this law. This law of 
life is now recognized in all Christendom. Service, 



n6 The Secret of Successful Life 

like efficiency, is now one of the most common 
words, and expresses a common conception of life. 

Service has long been demanded of certain classes 
of men. The preacher, the physician, the teacher, 
who will not give life to the utmost, has long been 
condemned as unworthy of his profession. This 
demand of service is spreading. Indebtedness is bas- 
ed upon ability. Obligation rests on opportunity. 
The king who rules for himself and not for his 
people is deemed unworthy of his crown. The man 
of wealth who keeps his wealth for himself and who 
does not share it with his fellowmen and leave it for 
their benefit, is unhonored. The man who knows 
Christ must be Christlike in his living. Had not 
Jesus, as the Son of God, revealed this law as the 
very law of the divine life, men would not have 
learned to love as He loved. These four great 
facts and forces, namely : belief in one God, faith in 
God as a Father, the thought of men as brothers, 
and obedience to the law of love in service, all have 
resulted from belief in the incarnation and the revel- 
ation of God, the Father, in Jesus Christ the Son. 



CHAPTER VII 

The New Birth 

A YELLOW butterfly glowing in the sunshine, 
*^* flying swiftly through the air, lighting daintily 
upon flower after flower, and sipping honey from 
delicate cups, is quite unlike a caterpillar of which 
it is the secondary and completed form. One won- 
ders if the voracious caterpillar creeping slowly on 
the ground, eating greedily, and casting away skin 
after skin to make way for a new one, ever imagines 
the change of which it is capable. By a metamor- 
phosis during which the natural life undergoes 
changes which lift it and which fit it for a higher state 
of existence, the caterpillar undergoes a renewing pro- 
cess which makes it more beautiful in form, more 
dainty in taste, and more refined in the manner of 
its life. It is the same life in essence, but a higher 
life in its purposes and in the use of its powers. The 
caterpillar when it becomes a butterfly is refined, 
beautified, and physically glorified. 

The butterfly is a physical picture of a psycholog- 
ical change which may take place in man. "The 
caterpillar, towards the end of summer, waxeth vola- 
tile, and turneth to a butterfly," says Bacon. Man, 
likewise, as his life progresses, should cease to be 
essentially carnal and should become spiritual. A 
man should become new by the regeneration of his 
soul, transformed by the renewing of his mind, and 

117 



n8 The Secret of Successful Life 

beautified by the pervading power of holy love. 
With the butterfly, that is not first which is volatile, 
fitting it for flight in the air, but that which is 
gross, fitting it to creep upon the ground. With 
man, also, as Saint Paul has so well said: "That 
is not first which is spiritual, but that which is 
natural or psychical then, that which is spiritual or 
pneumaticaL" That which takes place in the but- 
terfly is a metamorphosis, a change of form, wrought 
by action of natural life in relation to the earth. 
That which takes place in man is a regeneration, a 
change of spirit wrought in him by the power of a 
spiritual environment. The butterfly, by the action 
of a natural power, is lifted to a little higher place 
in the kingdom of earth. A man, by action of a 
supernatural power touching him within, is lifted 
into a higher state called "the kingdom of God." 
The metamorphosed butterfly still draws its life 
from the things of earth. The regenerated man 
draws his life from the kingdom of heaven. An 
inspiration fills him with moral motive and spiritual 
excellence. Jesus says: "Except a man be born 
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
The word gennao used here in the New Testament, 
means both to beget, like a father, and to bring 
forth, like a mother. It may refer to the beginning 
of life, as in conception, and, also, to a change of life, 
as at birth. Both meanings are included in Jesus* 
words. He affirms that life must be imparted by 
the Spirit and that life must be lived within the 
environment of "the kingdom of God." Both uses 
of this word gennao occur elsewhere in the New 






The New Birth 119 



Testament. Men who experience the change 
wrought in regeneration are said to be "begotten of 
God," to be "born of God," and to be "sons of 
God." This is the destiny for which man has been 
created, but he may fail of its fulfilment. A cater- 
pillar is made to become a butterfly, but a caterpillar 
may fail to reach this consummation of its existence. 
A man is born into the world to become a son of 
God, but a man may fail to reach this consumma- 
tion of his creation by failing to find and to fulfil 
the conditions of a completed life. If it were left 
to a caterpillar to choose whether it would become 
a butterfly, it might refuse to accept the change. It 
might prefer to remain a caterpillar. Man is a crea- 
ture with power of choice and with liberty of choice. 
A man cannot lift himself into the kingdom of 
heaven; but a man may resist the power which 
would lift him into that kingdom; he may prefer 
to remain wholly within the communion of things of 
the earth. 

Several years ago, Professor Drummond called 
attention to the fact that a change from one king- 
dom to another kingdom in the ascending scale of 
being, is accomplished, always, by the entrance into 
the lower kingdom of a new and transforming force 
from above. The mineral never can transform itself 
into a vegetable, nor can the mineral kingdom, of 
itself, produce a vegetable. A seed in the soil is the 
beginning of the transformation of mineral subs- 
tance into vegetable substance, and the source of a 
vegetable product. Whence life first came, no man 
knows save by faith. But we do know that one 



120 The Secret of Successful Life 

form of life and being cannot lift itself into a higher 
kingdom. Accepting this scientific fact, Professor 
Drummond has said: "The world of natural men 
is staked off from the spiritual world by barriers 
which never yet have been crossed from within. 
No organic change, no modification of environment, 
no mental energy, no moral effort, no evolution of 
character, no progress of civilization, can endow any 
single soul with the attribute of spiritual life. The 
spiritual world is guarded from the world next in 
order beneath it by a law of biogenesis — except a 
man be born again, except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God. Except a mineral be born from above — 
from the kingdom just above it — it cannot enter 
into the kingdom just above it. And except a man 
be born from above, by the same law, he cannot 
enter the kingdom just above him. ,, 

Let it be noted, however, that there is this 
important difference between a mineral and a man. 
The mineral has no will. Any change on the part 
of a mineral is without volition on its part, without 
resistance, and without choice. A man has will. A 
man cannot regenerate himself. He cannot lift him- 
self into the kingdom of heaven ; but he can neglect 
and he can resist the action of the force which 
would life him into that kingdom. A man cannot 
live without air in the kingdom of the earth; but 
a man may resist air, refuse to breathe, and so die. 
A man may resist and refuse the vivifying breath of 
the kingdom of heaven, and so fail of heavenly life. 
This is the constant teaching of the scriptures. This 



The New Birth 121 



is the reason that men are said to be renewed and 
saved by the grace of God, and the reason they are 
said to be held responsible and guilty for their fail- 
ure of salvation. This, according to the New Test- 
ament, is the cause of the divine condemnation of 
unsaved men. God is represented, in the scriptures, 
as coming to men, being present with men, seeking 
to renew and save and perfect men. Men are rep- 
resented as resisting God and refusing salvation. 
Wisdom calls and men mock. Light shines and men 
love darkness. The Son of God comes and would 
save and men will not accept salvation. The Spirit 
woos, and men resist and reject the saving power. 
Therefore, they are in darkness, without light, and 
doomed to die. This has been the history of man- 
kind from the beginning, on the downward side of 
carnality, worldliness, and wickedness. Adam chose 
to go downward not upward, to live in the flesh not 
in the spirit, and so lost Eden. Some men have 
been doing the same thing ever since. Men live 
under varying degrees of light and of opportunity; 
but the ultimate condemnation of men always rests 
upon the fact that they have refused to be saved. 
They have refused to go up. Therefore, the con- 
demnation comes because they have not the life of 
the spirit which is love. They have not given bread 
to the hungry, nor water to the thirsty, nor ministry 
to those in need. They have lived in the flesh ; they 
belong to the world ; they have no part in the king- 
dom; their names are not written in the book of 
life. This condemnation on account of something 
negative, on account of what men have not and are 



122 The Secret of Successful Life 

not, is in keeping with the judgment of life every- 
where. 

When this truth is more clearly seen than it has 
been seen, evangelists will not direct their anathemas 
so primarily against the drunkard, the adulterer, the 
thief, and the persons who frequent places of amuse- 
ment as though these were sinners par excellence; 
preachers will not single certain sins as the con- 
demning ones to the comfort of a moral, self-right- 
eous and self-satisfied congregation; but evangelists 
and preachers alike will declare that the sin which 
shuts the door of heaven and brings abiding con- 
demnation is the sin of refusing to accept the higher 
life. 

This is not intended to say that immorality, vice, 
and crime are not sins and do not bring consequences 
of heavy penalty; but it is intended to say that the 
absence of immorality, vice, and crime does not 
constitute salvation. Freedom from vice and crime 
will leave any man free from their special penalties; 
but this mere negative goodness will not constitute 
eternal life. What does a man do more than an 
animal when he simply keeps himself temperate, 
loves his mate, cares for his children, is decent in 
habit, and well-groomed in body and mind? That 
is simply to be adjusted to the world, that is simply 
to live well in the present order, that is to get the 
best for one's self under earthly conditions, and it 
will receive its reward ; but that is not faith in 
God, it is not fellowship with Christ, it is not living 
in communion with the spiritual kingdom of heaven, 
it is not loving as Jesus loved, it is not living as He 



The New Birth 123 



lived, it is not a service animated by loving self- 
surrender to the will of God and to the sacrificial 
way of Christ. It has no part in the kingdom of 
heavenly and holy love. 

On the other hand, there is a life in this world 
the opposite of this, namely, the life of those who 
have chosen the upward side and have increased in 
love and in devoted living. From the beginning, 
some have chosen this life. Let them be called 
saints, or sons of God, or children of the Highest, 
or what you will; they have been lifted out of the 
life of selfishness, self-seeking, self-indulgence and 
neglect of things of the spirit, and they have been 
lifted into the kingdom of love, worship, conse- 
cration, devotion, generous sympathy, and altru- 
istic service. Wherever they are found, they are 
marked as being in spirit of a high order, children 
of the upper kingdom. 

The life of the new-born is a Christ-like life. As 
an old writer has said : 

"Though Christ be born a thousand times in Beth- 
lehem 
Yet if he be not born within thine own soul 
His birth is all in vain to thee." 

The Christ-like life is reverent, worshipful, trust- 
ful, loving, self-sacrificing, and serviceable. It 
transcends life in the flesh and in the world not, 
chiefly, in the moralities of decent living, but in 
the motives, purposes, choices, and activities of life. 
A merchant who goes to a foreign country, though he 



124 The Secret of Successful Life 

deals honestly, which is good, simply that he may 
gain riches for himself, is not animated by the same 
kind of motive as a missionary who goes to the same 
country, and lives self-denyingly, that he may give 
the gospel to the natives. The one goes to a foreign 
country to get for himself; the other goes that he 
may give. This may serve as a picture to illustrate 
the difference between the once-born man and the 
twice-born man. Selfishness in some form is the 
spirit of the once-born man, and self -enjoyment in 
some way is the motive in his living. Love in some 
form is the spirit of the twice-born man and service 
in some way is the motive in his living. 

This higher life, like every lower life, is silent 
and secret in its inception and it reveals itself by its 
various forms of expression. It has a breath, an 
atmosphere, a tone, a touch by which its higher and 
heavenly qualities are made known. It is a life 
of the spirit, and it is spiritually discerned. 

Jesus says this life comes from the Spirit of God' 
and belongs, in its development, in the kingdom of 
heaven. It proceeds from a vital touch of the di- 
vine Spirit, and it grows by communion with such 
things as are in the kingdom of heaven. This is no 
more mysterious than life elsewhere. An eagle in 
the shell has a beak which may be strong, eyes which 
may see, and wings which may sweep the air; but 
in the shell the beak is weak, the eyes are without 
sight, and the wings are without power. When the 
eagle bursts the shell and enters the larger world of 
light and air ; then, the beak grows strong, the eyes 
become keen in sight, the wings beat the air with 



The New Birth 1 25 



power of flight, and the eagle is perfect of its kind. 
So the soul of man touched, first, with vivifying 
power and, then, born into the kingdom of heaven 
becomes a complete soul and perfect after the divine 
idea. The New Testament teaches that the pres- 
ence and power of the divine spirit, like the pres- 
ence and power of light and air in the physical 
kingdom, are always in the world moving upon men 
to give them this life from above. 

In Freiburg, Germany, there is a celebrated or- 
gan. One day, Mendelssohn visited Freiburg to 
see this organ of which he had heard. He found 
an old man, the verger, within the church. Men- 
delssohn asked permission to play upon the organ. 
This was denied him. But the great man talked so 
intelligently and so lovingly of the organ that at 
length the verger consented to let him play upon 
it. Presently, the fingers of the musician began to 
move caressingly over the keys and the church be- 
came filled with such music as the verger never 
had heard. He stood entranced, touched and 
charmed by the sweet tones. He never had known 
the capabilities of that organ. "Who are you?" he 
exclaimed, as the music ceased, "I am Mendels- 
sohn," was the reply. "And to think," said the 
verger, "that I was unwilling to permit you to play 
upon that organ." Man is like this organ. He is a 
creature of great potential powers ; but he needs to 
be touched in his feelings and emotions, his affec- 
tions and his choices, by a spirit which will bring 
out all the possible good which is in him. We may 
not know all the meaning of Jesus' words respecting 



126 The Secret of Successful Life 

the new birth, but we can know the truth of his say- 
ing, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and 
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." While 
we must leave the inception of the spiritual life in 
the silence and secrecy which belongs to the begin- 
ning of all life, yet we know enough of the power 
of spiritual touch and the method of spiritual cul- 
ture to be well assured of the processes of spiritual 
growth. We know that that which touches a man 
only through his fleshly nature, never elevates him, 
and that it frequently degrades him. We know, 
also, that that which touches the springs of a man's 
soul may make him a new creature ; it may elevate, 
refine, and save him. Instances of this are numer- 
ous, and a few may serve the purpose of illustration. 

In one of George Eliot's books, Silas Marner, an 
English weaver who has been crossed in love and 
disappointed in business, shuts himself away from 
his fellow men and lives alone plying his trade. He 
saves his money until he comes to live for the gold 
he may earn, over which he gloats in a perverted 
love by night. Loving gold, he is debased by it 
until he becomes a miser of narrow type. Suddenly 
and unexpectedly, a little girl is left with him. In 
caring for her whose beauty of spirit he discerns, 
his captivity to gold is broken. He loves her with 
the ardor of a strong heart. He becomes a man 
dominated by love. That which is born of the 
spirit is spirit, in him. 

In the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, is 
the original statue of The Greek Slave, by an Amer- 
ican sculptor, Powers. A story to this effect is told 



I 



The New Birth 127 



of this statue. When that statue, a figure of a 
woman exquisitely formed and with a face of sur- 
passing purity and sweetness, but chained as a slave, 
was first exhibited in a window in Rome, a common 
servant girl stopped to look upon it. Standing be- 
fore that statue, she was struck by the purity and 
beauty of one of her own class, a slave. She went 
home, washed her face, combed her hair, and ad- 
justed her dress to such neatness as was possible. 
Day after day, she returned to look upon this figure 
of a slave made beautiful by the purity of an inward 
life, until she herself was transformed by its influ- 
ence. It was not the marble, not the lines of physi- 
cal beauty, but the conception of womanly purity, 
modesty, and sweetness which the artist had caused 
to express themselves through the marble which 
touched the soul of the servant maid, set her free, 
and made her beautiful. It was spirit which spoke to 
spirit. That which is born of the spirit, is spirit. 

Recently, I heard a man condemn the popular 
conception of the Virgin Mary as the embodiment of 
beauty which has been held by the church in an 
idealized manner. He proceeded to describe Mary 
in terms of the physical form of a common peasant 
woman of Galilee. His description may have been 
photographically true, but it pained me. What has 
there been in Mary which has held the mind of the 
church to the high ideal of her? This: her purity; 
her modesty when the angel spoke to her; her sub- 
mission to the divine will, "Be it unto me accord- 
ing to thy word;" her trust in facing a situation 
which might blacken her reputation; her patience 



128 The Secret of Successful Life 

in waiting through long years for the revelation of 
her son ; her wisdom, keeping all the great promises 
in her heart; her supreme sufferings, "Now there 
stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, ,, — these 
are the great qualities which the heart has felt 
and which may have prompted the imagination to 
exaggerate her physical beauty. But what does it 
matter? Is not the heart the chief element of value? 
I doubt not but many a humble girl and many a 
suffering woman kneeling before an image of the 
Virgin have found there inspiration to purity, mod- 
esty, trustfulness, patience, and heroism in suffer- 
ing which have greatly blessed them. Is the trellis 
on which a morning glory climbs, a matter of chief 
value? Are not the flowers, bright in the sunlight, 
what a man wants? Does God care greatly for 
the ladder on which some soul climbs to get a 
glimpse of beauty, if that soul is thereby beautified? 
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. 

At one time, passing through a ward of a hos- 
pital, where it was my duty to minister to patients, 
I came to a bed on which lay a stalwart Irishman 
greatly afflicted and unable even to lie in a comfort- 
able position. I expressed my sympathy for him in 
his unusual sufferings. Turning towards me, he 
said, "The Saviour suffered more for us, sor, and 
we should be willing to suffer. ,, This man's theory 
of the nature and purpose of Christ's suf- 
ferings may have differed from the opinions 
of some others, but his vision of the suf- 
fering Christ made him patient in suffering 
and peaceful in pain. That which is born of the 



The New Birth 129 



spirit, is spirit. 

The heart is deeper than the intellect, and 
prompts to higher living and holier character. Truth 
received by the mind, must sink into the depths of 
a man's nature where the sources of action are, if 
it is to move and transform him. It is not abstract 
truth, but truth embodied in living character, which 
God uses to save men. God speaks in prophets. 
God reveals himself in a Son. Life is saved and 
trained by life. If a man cannot see beauty when 
it is set before him ; then, he cannot be taught what 
is beautiful. If a man cannot hear music; then, 
he cannot be taught music. If a man cannot see 
goodness when it is set before him; then, he cannot 
be taught goodness. 

Jesus used this method of teaching. He washed 
the disciples feet and then bade them follow His 
example in the spirit of humility and service. Jesus 
loved men to the point of giving His life for them 
and then bade His disciples love as He loved. Jesus 
presented the Father to men in the regnant greatness 
of His love and mercifulness, and then bade them 
be merciful as the Father is merciful, and gracious 
as the Father is gracious, and perfect as the Father 
is perfect. 

This was the practical method used by the 
apostles. When Saint Paul would enlarge the Chris- 
tians of Corinth in generous sympathy to the point 
of giving liberally for the relief of poor saints in 
Jerusalem, he said, "For ye know the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet 
for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His 



130 The Secret of Successful Life 

poverty might become rich." When Peter would 
comfort servants who suffered unjustly at the hands 
of cruel masters, he said: "If when ye do well and 
suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is accept- 
able with God. For hereunto were ye called; be- 
cause Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an 
example, that ye should follow His steps." When 
Saint John would call the disciples to heroism, he 
said: "He laid down his life for us: and we ought 
to lay down our lives for the brethren." By touch- 
ing the souls of men by the mercy of God, by the 
love of Christ, and by the heroism of his sacrifice, 
the apostles who called men into His kingdom and 
glory, sought to awaken similar graces in them. 
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. 

That there is such a thing as a spiritual regenera- 
tion by which men are renewed and made new men 
is a fact of experience and a fact of observation. 
There are those who testify to the change which 
has been wrought in them, and there are those who 
bear witness to the great change which they have 
seen in others. In the record in the New Testa- 
ment, there is account of men who became new 
with clearer knowledge of truth, with wider vision, 
with more generous sympathies, and with more 
altruistic purposes, and whose lives were spent in the 
loving service of mankind. 

The annals of the church contain the names of 
many who were changed from an open life of fleshly 
vice into a life of spiritual virtue. The historian, 
Gibbon, who will not be charged with prejudice for 
Christianity, frankly says, "The friends of Chris- 



The New Birth 131 



tianity may acknowledge without a blush, that many 
of the most eminent saints had been before their 
baptism the most abandoned sinners. As they 
emerged from sin and superstition t6 the glorious 
hope of immortality, they resolved to devote them- 
selves to a life not only of virtue, but of penitence. 
The desire for perfection became the ruling passion 
of their soul." 

In modern times, there are changes quite as 
marked. Mr. Begbie, in Twice-Born Men, relates 
the experience of men in Ceylon and in India. These 
men have been accused by their fellow men of being 
possessed by devils. Their spirit and manners give 
every mark of demonical possession. Under influ- 
ences of missionaries of the Salvation Army, some 
of them become rational, quiet, and docile. Under 
the spell of Christ they become very useful, giving 
every evidence of a change of heart and soul. They 
become entirely new men. The change is as marked 
as in any case recorded in the New Testament. They 
too give credit to Christ for the change. 

Great changes in character occur, also, in Chris- 
tian lands. Many who have been abandoned sin- 
ners become eminent and useful saints. But it is 
not in such changes that we need feel compelled to 
look for evidences of the new birth. It is the quality 
of the life and not its contrast to a former mode of 
living which attests its spiritual character. Faith 
and love and devotion mark the new life, though 
one may have grown in it from childhood, and never 
may have known another spirit. It is the quality 
of life rather than any contrast to previous exper- 



132 The Secret of Successful Life 

iences which marks it as belonging to the heavenly 
kingdom. Many have been led from infancy in the 
footsteps of Christ. They exhibit the reality of a 
Christ-like life among men. Faith is the ruling 
principle in their life, and love is their motive power. 
In such persons, the flesh is subject to the spirit, 
the world is subjected to the kingdom of heaven, 
purity is more than pleasure, truth is more precious 
than gain, integrity is more than position, to do the 
will of God is more than to please men, and to win 
the praise of God is sweeter than to hear the plau- 
dits of the world. The twice-born man does not 
desire to possess personally, to own legally, and to 
use selfishly, simply for himself; but he desires to 
possess, to own, and to use for the glory of God and 
for the good of men. The twice-born man does 
certain things because they are godlike, such as the 
Father does; he does other things because love 
prompts the doing of them; he does still other 
things because the cry of need appeals to him. The 
authority which he obeys is in his spirit; the law 
is within his heart ; the deed is without gain to him- 
self. As the sun shines because it is its nature to 
shine ; as flowers bloom and breathe their fragrance 
on the air because they must; as fruit ripens and 
hangs ready for the hand which will pluck it; so 
the goodness of the new man is spontaneous, free, 
and beneficient. Like Jesus, the souls of such men 
lie open heavenward for inspiration, and open earth- 
ward to hear the cry of need. They are sons of 
God; they are servants of men; they are living 
souls whose love and ministry make an enduring 



The New Birth 133 



society possible. It should be remembered, always, 
that the man who is born of the Spirit begins as a 
babe in the kingdom of heaven. He is still in the 
flesh; appetite and passion may be strong within 
him. But a new force is working within him to 
subject every appetite and passion and power to the 
law of God. 

A modern woman who passed through the not 
uncommon experience of seeking to find physical 
health and mental comfort and ease for herself 
alone, and who, intellectuality, passed through the 
mists and twilights of New Thought and occult 
searchings after philosophic truth ; relates her exper- 
ience by saying, "When I say that I became a Chris- 
tian, I mean to use the words of the evangelists, that 
'I found Christ' ; or to use the words that seem to 
describe what actually happened, I was 'born again.' 
This process of introduction took about three 
months. It was cumulative in method and results. 
It was by neither a reasoning nor an emotional pro- 
cess that this knowledge (if one may use so cold a 
word of so warm a thing) came, but a sort of grad- 
ual stimulation of the soul; a fanning, as it were, 
of the spark of Godhead within me till the life of the 
soul took command of the whole life ; till the divine 
spark burst into a 'consuming fire,' till that point 
was reached where aspiration becomes realization. 
'I lost myself and lost the desire of having my own 
way, in the love of the way of Christ.' ' This 
woman might have said, as a man of an ancient time 
said, "Christ liveth in me." That is to say, the 
spirit which animated and controlled Christ, ani- 



134 The Secret of Successful Life 

mates and controls the person who is born of the 
spirit. 

"The difference between the spiritual man and 
the natural man is not a difference of development, 
but of generation. ,, In the beginning, the difference 
between a man of the world and a man of the 
kingdom may be invisible to the eye of man. Indeed, 
if by nature and by culture, the man of the world 
is the finer man, he may seem to be the better man. 
Along some lines, also, the man of the world may be 
the better man. But, as in all life, the difference 
will become more marked as time passes. The man 
who is not conformed to the world, but who is being 
transformed, will become visibly the better man. At 
first, the difference is wholly within and hence hid- 
den from the eye. It is a keener sense of God, a 
spirit of trust in Him, a grateful heart, an obedient 
will, a desire to submit to the will of God and to 
obey that will, and an increasing power of love. 
At last, when completed, it will be conformity to the 
image of God and likeness to Christ. The divine 
purpose in creation will be complete in Christian 
character. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy," 
a poet sang. But more truly, by far, heaven lies 
about us in our age, if life has been spent in learning 
the will and the way of God. 

The sad thing which suggests failure of a suc- 
cessful life on the part of some persons, is the fact 
that they do not, by any voluntary action, place 
themselves in contact with those places and persons 
and means and forces which may awaken and culti- 
vate the spiritual life. Some, indeed, seem sedu- 



The New Birth 135 



lously to avoid all such places and persons. Churches, 
sermons, sacred songs, liturgies, societies for render- 
ing Christian service, are all efficient means of cul- 
tivating spiritual life. To some persons, these offer 
no attraction; to some they are valuable for their 
incidents, such as sociability, and not for their soul. 
Some find them a means of grace and of growth. 

How shall one who wilfully avoids all places 
where music is heard or taught or practiced, grow 
in musical nature and culture? How shall one who 
takes pains to avoid all places of art and beauty, 
grow in esthetic nature and in the love of beauty? 
How shall one who avoids all places and persons 
suggesting God and revealing God, grow in the 
likeness of God? That is impossible. To pursue 
such a course is to turn deliberately away from light 
and from spiritual life. A spiritual capacity unused, 
like an unused physical power, will atrophy and be 
lost. 

But such persons as place themselves voluntarily 
under the influences of such means and of such per- 
sons as awaken a sense of truth and righteousness 
and love, will grow continually. And a successful 
life must ever come from following the way of Him 
who is the truth and the life. 

Look then on any vision which through art may 
speak to you of purity and moral beauty. Listen 
and hear any voice which through music speaks 
to you of love and of worship and praise. Learn to 
see and know on the page of literature, the saintly 
characters which glow and are radiant with the 
warmth of sweet sympathy, and which are regal in 



136 The Secret of Successful Life 

the greatness of a serviceable life. Behold the 
matchless person of Christ as He stands out upon 
the page of the scriptures until you are inflamed 
with a desire to be like Him. Interpret the circum- 
stances of life in the light of the divine purpose of 
training of character. Yield ever to the inspira- 
tion§ of the Spirit which touch the soul in many 
ways to inspire goodness. Then, your years will 
not be spent in vain, but you will find and you will 
know the way of a truly successful life. 

Love is a unifying force. Love unites man to 
God and to men. Love saves. The loving man 
lives. The life of love endures not by virtue of any 
arbitrary decree, but because of its own inherent 
nature. The life of love is eternal in its essence, 
and the kingdom to which it belongs is an eternal 
kingdom. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Love as an Atmosphere 

A/f OST days drop behind us into the common 
pathway of the past and are forgotten. They 
have no distinguishing feature and, in memory, they 
blend in indistinctness with many such days. Some 
days are remembered because each is an anniver- 
sary of an event of importance. A few days are 
remembered for what they were in themselves. One 
such day stands out vividly in my own memory. A 
blue sky bright and unclouded, a pure air exhilarat- 
ing like wine, mountain heights to be climbed with 
joy, a wide view of an enlarged and beautiful 
world, and simple physical and mental delight in 
the mere fact of living made that day remain clear 
and distinct in memory. It lives because it was a 
day of full joyous, triumphant life. 

The thing most essential and most valuable to 
the life of any creature is atmosphere. The atmos- 
phere which we breathe is not air composed of oxy- 
gen and nitrogen alone, but air suffused with sun- 
shine, moistened with vapor, and pervaded with 
electricity. To plants and animals, the atmosphere 
is, physically, the kingdom of heaven. It brings min- 
istry from higher sources and from wider reaches 
than the earth. The atmosphere may injure or it 
may improve a living thing; it may nourish or des- 
troy life. Plants are blasted in a cold atmosphere 
and withered in a hot one. Plants grow where tem- 

137 



138 The Secret of Successful Life 

perature, moisture, and light are combined in proper 
proportions. Animals are affected by the quality 
of the air they breathe, and mood and temper are 
frequently the resultant effects of air upon a sensi- 
tive organization. Men are wont to speak of air 
as heavy, depressing, debilitating, and so injurious to 
life, or as pure, exhilarating, and invigorating, and 
so favorable to life. 

The social atmosphere of a home is the most im- 
portant factor in the life of a child. In an atmos- 
phere of suspicion, distrust, anger, injustice, and 
cruelty, it is impossible for a child to grow in faith, 
sweetness, gentleness, and kindness. A child re- 
produces the temper, speech, and actions of the 
grown persons about him. Common observation of 
the speech and conduct of children, confirms this 
statement. Even in play, children will use the 
tone and language of their elders. There is, of 
course, a certain native and individual quality of 
character independent of environment; but this is 
modified in increased goodness or in intensified bad- 
ness by the atmosphere in which a child lives. A 
little girl is a moral blossom in the likeness of her 
mother, and a small boy tries to reproduce the 
speech and conduct of his father. 

The moral and spiritual quality of a community 
as shown in the speech, conduct, business manners, 
amusements, and worship influence the mind and 
habits of a growing child. 

In so far as personal choice may decide the atmos- 
phere which one will breathe, in so far, there is 
individual responsibility. One may allow the 



Love as an Atmosphere 139 

milder or the more severe spirit of a home to dwell 
in mind; one may choose the companions who 
awaken the baser, or the companions who awaken 
the more refined feelings; one may cultivate the 
desires and the actions of the worse or of the bet- 
ter spirits about him. 

Personal choice performs an important part in the 
formation of character. But in so far as choice has 
no place, as with the very young who are confined 
to a limited and circumstantial atmosphere, environ- 
ment is the chief factor in determining quality and 
direction of life. The experience and observation 
of societies who take charge of neglected and aban- 
doned children, and who place them in homes, con- 
firms this statement. 

The religious atmosphere in which a soul lives is 
of prime importance. Man is a religious being. He 
has in himself a sense of divinity. He 
believes in the supernatural. He is moved by faith in 
or by fear of spiritual beings. He will be, or he 
will become, like the god he worships. Men whose 
heaven is peopled with gods such as Pope's couplet 
describes : 

"Gods partial, passionate, unjust, 
Whose attributes are rage, revenge, and lust," 

will indulge themselves in like passions. Fear has 
played a great part in the religions of the world. 
Fear which is reverent, which is filled with respect, 
and which dreads to offend, is beneficial. Fear 
which is simply apprehension of danger and injury, 



140 The Secret of Successful Life 

is hurtful. Men too frequently have conceived of 
gods after their own image and have regarded them 
as essentially selfish, self-seeking, and self-indulgent. 
They have worshipped them as beings whose anger 
may be placated by sacrificial offerings and whose 
favor may be purchased by costly gifts. Men, 
through their vain imagination, have lived in an 
atmosphere spiritually unhealthful and morally 
baneful. 

But Jesus has revealed God to men. The reve- 
lation in Jesus did not create the divine character 
or change that character, but made it manifest. 
Jesus has made men acquainted with the 
spiritual atmosphere in which they live. 
Jesus' character is holy and loving. Jesus' dispo- 
sition towards men is unselfish and benevolent. 
Jesus' ministry to men is beneficent, giving health 
and holiness. He that hath seen Jesus, hath seen 
the Father. The revelation of Jesus is threefold: 
God is a spirit; God is light; God is love. God 
is a spirit in essence; God is light in action; God 
is love in relation to men. Men by faith dwell in 
God; God by love dwells in men. Men by faith, 
open mind and soul to God; God by love enters 
and enlarges the souls of men. "He that dwelleth 
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 

That which is wisest and best in men is used by 
Jesus to interpret to men what is wise and good in 
God. The farmer who sows good seed in his field, 
the shepherd who seeks a lost sheep, the father 
who forgives a repentant prodigal son, the father 
who hears and answers the prayer of his child, the 






Love as an Atmosphere 141 

householder who amply rewards a faithful steward, 
are all used to exhibit and illustrate qualities which 
belong to the divine nature and which spring from 
the one source — love. 

God's love is not unintelligent, unregulated, and 
misdirected sentiment. God's love is clear in vision, 
wise in choice, intelligent in action, moving outward 
in ministry and in control which will secure good. 

The spiritual atmosphere in which the world of 
men lies is love. This love has in it all the elements 
of mercy, long-suffering, forgiveness, and grace 
which meet the various needs of men. The prin- 
ciples and practices of the divine government are 
to be interpreted by love. They are essentially 
benevolent; they are for good purposes; they are 
for the welfare of the creature. The glory of the 
Creator is not secured by any injustice to the crea- 
ture. The good of the creature is not obtained by 
any dishonor to the Creator. The principles of the 
divine administration run along the lines of right- 
eousness. 

Evil, obviously, is incidental to creatures begin- 
ning life in infancy to be educated in spirituality 
and pain is part of the discipline of human life. But 
evil is not pleasurable to God, and pain is not the 
permanent inheritance of man. That punishment of 
sin which warns and restrains the sinner for his own 
welfare is benevolent; and that punishment of sin 
which, like surgery, removes the incorrigible sinner 
from a society which would be injured by his pres- 
ence is likewise good. Divine love is not soft-hearted 
kindness destitute of moral principle, but wise, intel- 



142 The Secret of Successful Life 

ligent, firm, and well-directed benevolence which 
maintains the authority of right and of law, and 
which sends suffering for the good which will ensue. 

Permission given to a child to choose his own 
way without control would not be wisdom but folly. 
Granting a child limitless liberty, would not be the 
act of intelligence, but of ignorance. Granting a 
child every request would not be kindness but 
cruelty. Withholding pain when pain would cor- 
rect or chasten or call out heroic qualities, would 
not be a favor but a futility. Diverting sorrow 
when sorrow would sanctify, would not be a blessing 
but a bane. 

It is not possible to set every separate state of a 
man or every kind of pain or every time of sorrow in 
such a light that one may see all its relations and 
interpret its meaning and show the good which must 
follow, but it is quite possible to see the general 
course of goodness in the world's guidance and 
governance. There is, obviously, a benevolent pur- 
pose in pain; suffering evokes strength of soul; sor- 
row may soften, chasten, and serve to complete a 
character. This world without pain and without 
sorrow would be to a very great degree, without the 
patience and the heroism, and without the sym- 
pathy and the gentleness which now, are found in 
it. There is also in the heart of mankind an abiding 
hope of better things yet to be. 

The physical atmosphere has its clouds and show- 
ers, its currents and its storms, its electric displays 
and destructions ; but these all perform a beneficent 
part in the promotion of health and welfare. In- 



Love as an Atmosphere 143 

dividual instances of injury and loss occur; but 
these are incidental and, relatively, minor; they 
are neither the common nor the permanent things. 
They are but temporal. The gain far outbalances 
the loss. 

In the spiritual sphere, there are times of darkness 
and trial, of suffering and sorrow, of pain and loss; 
but to him who believes in the love of God, and 
abides in that love, they conserve spiritual welfare. 
This an apostle saw when he burst out in a glad 
exclamation: "We glory in tribulations also know- 
ing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, 
experience, and experience, hope." He teaches the 
same truth when he writes, "Our affliction which is 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
weight of glory." There are some things in human 
experience, now, which are seen only as painful and 
full of sorrow; but, says Saint Paul, "These are 
temporal," and there are other things which follow 
that are full of pleasure and of glory and these "are 
eternal." 

To him who knows God as revealed in character 
in the person of Jesus, and who knows the purpose 
and principles of the divine government as declared 
in the gospel, there must be this interpretation of 
human life. He who dwells in the love of God will 
have a strength, a comfort, and a glorious hope in 
the midst of all life's experiences which can belong 
to none other. "Keep yourselves in the love of 
God." 

God loved when he made the world, and the con- 
stitution of the world must be accepted as an expres- 



144 The Secret of Successful Life 

sion of his love. We should not expect the physi- 
cal conditions of the world to be changed because of 
the revelation of divine grace and our acceptance of 
it, nor the laws of nature to be annulled because of 
our prayers. In so far as we personally have neg- 
lected the laws of the universe and have lived in 
violation of those laws, we should expect change; 
but the change must be in us and not in the laws of 
nature or in nature's course. Labor, for instance, 
must be accepted as a primary law of life. He who 
lives in the love of God will perform his labor not 
in the spirit of servitude, but in the spirit of sonship 
and will make it a ministry. 

The normal relations of human life which are 
formed by men's appetites and affections have been 
ordained in love. These relations are not to be 
avoided but accepted. They give much satisfaction 
and joy; they bring also much care and sorrow. But 
it is, mainly, through the common relations and 
common duties of life that the finest elements of 
character are developed. Men by obedience in spirit 
to the constitution of society, are enlarged in affec- 
tion and in sympathy, and are fitted to be part of an 
enduring social order. He who believes in the love 
of God, and who sees that love expressed in the con- 
stitution of the world and in the structure of soci- 
ety, cannot think that labor is a penalty for sin or 
that celibacy is superior to marriage, or that medita- 
tion is better than action. The mode of life which 
must be led by the many must be good rather than a 
manner of life which may be led by a few. 

A superficial survey of the history of mankind 






Love as an Atmosphere 145 

will show that by toil man is trained in self-re- 
straint, self-control, power of concentration, and 
power of application, and that by toil, man gains 
both knowledge and skill. What most men have 
learned has come through the necessity of a struggle 
for existence, and the moral qualities of mankind 
have been evoked and made strong through adapta- 
tion to one another in the relations and mutual du- 
ties of life. 

Man is said to be nature's favorite. Yet, as 
one has said: "How does nature deal with her fa- 
vorite? She turns him out naked, cold, and shiv- 
ering upon the earth; with needs that admit of no 
compromise; with a delicate frame that cannot lie 
upon the bare ground an hour, but must have im- 
mediate protection; with a hunger that cannot pro- 
crastinate the needed supply, but must be fed to-day 
and every day; and why is all this? I suppose, if 
man could have made of earth a bed ; and if an ap- 
ple or a chestnut a day could have sufficed him for 
food ; he would have got his barrel of apples or his 
bushel of chestnuts, and lain down upon the earth 
and done nothing until the stock was gone. But na- 
ture will not permit this." 

Nature, which for animals provides food which 
needs no cooking and which weaves garments for 
them by the action of their own bodies, clothing 
them in feathers or in fur, as climate and condi- 
tions demand, and which makes them capable of 
living without a house, or provides a house for them, 
compels man to raise his own food, to weave his 
own garments, and to build his own house. But 



146 The Secret of Successful Life 

with what result? This, namely, that while ani- 
mals remain the same through the generations, men 
sowing, spinning, weaving, trading, building house 
and home, become farmers, artizans, architects, ar- 
tists, sculptors, painters, musicians, scientists, philos- 
ophers, poets, and, by inspiration, prophets. So it 
comes to pass that not only through the gentleness 
but through what seems the severity of God, men 
become great. Now he who sees this result in the 
course of nature and in the history of mankind, will 
accept his place in the world, will use his power, 
will perform his work and will do this with that 
cheerfulness and strength and hopefulness which 
come from the belief that his life is under the 
rule of love. 

The fact of moral evil also must be set in the 
light of love if we are to understand it aright. Why 
should a man be tempted to do wrong? Tempta- 
tion is not a trap to catch a man and destroy him, 
but temptation is a trial and a test. It is an oppor- 
tunity to fall, but it is also an opportunity to rise. 
He who when tempted refuses evil, rises as a bird 
rises by beating the air with resisting wings. He 
who is tempted, but without sin, proves thereby 
the power of his manhood. But do not many fall, 
rather than rise under temptation? Yes. But 
within the soul of man, as nowhere else in the 
animal world, there is a nature which feels remorse, 
which regrets and repents and makes possible the 
sundering of the soul from evil, and the renewal 
of relation with the forces which make for righteous- 
ness. 



Love as an Atmosphere 147 

Suffering also, in the ordinary sense of that word, 
that is, in the mere enduring of pains which are 
incidental to the human frame and to a man's rela- 
tions to the world and to other persons, is a means 
of heroism. That suffering which is endured on 
account of one's own sins or on account of the 
sins of others has in it the most powerful forces to 
expand the soul in love. Of the greatest character 
which has appeared on earth it is written, "He 
learned obedience by the things which He suffered ; 
and having been made perfect, He became unto all 
them that obey Him the author of eternal sal- 
vation." 

This eternal salvation comes to him who believes 
and knows the love that God hath for us. Nature 
lies about man waiting to minister to him with in- 
spiring breeze and warming sun and renewing 
forces. He who will receive the ministration of na- 
ture, finds that his fainting body is revived, his 
waning strength renewed, and power is given him 
to finish his journey or to complete his task. God, 
also, in like manner, is a living, present, all-embrac- 
ing spirit waiting to revive, renew, and make strong 
the soul of man. This is no mere Oriental 
dream, no mystic imagination, no illusive hope. 
This is a fact which is abundantly attested by the 
most reliable men. It is a matter of experience. 
Shepherds, soldiers, political leaders, statesmen, and 
men also in the very ordinary walks of common 
life have affirmed that they have waited upon 
God and have been helped, have called upon 
God and been answered, have trusted God 



148 The Secret of Successful Life 

and their strength has been renewed and 
made sufficient. The sacred scriptures, the bi- 
ographies of eminent men, and the hymns of the 
entire church expressive of common experiences, all 
bear witness to this truth. Humble persons have 
asserted in the ears of those who have tried to com- 
fort them that the grace of God has come to them 
in their need like water of life and like comfort of 
a mother's love. God indeed revives the heart of 
the contrite, dwells with them who are of humble 
heart, and renews the strength of such as wait on 
Him. 

The man who will search his own interior nature 
must know that faith, love, and hope, in some form, 
are the mightiest forces to keep his soul sane and 
pure and strong. He who will try must know that 
the love of God beyond anything else feeds these 
forces. He who dwells in the love of God, knows 
that he is guided in his counsels, strengthened in his 
purposes, comforted in his sorrows, sustained in his 
trials, and heartened at all times by the love of God. 
This persuasion and belief is conducive to moral 
power, mental sanity, and physical health. Salva- 
tion physical, mental, moral, and spiritual, comes 
from dwelling in the love of God. That love is the 
only atmosphere in which the soul can live and live 
eternally. 

Success in life is considered by many to depend on 
place and position, on the abundance of things with 
which a man surrounds himself, on escape from 
trouble and pain, and on the element of ease in liv- 
ing. But there have been men humbled in position 



Love as an Atmosphere 149 

who have been greatly exalted in themselves. There 
have been men who have suffered the loss of all 
things who have made others rich. There have been 
men bereft who blessed God in their bereavement 
and who greatly comforted others. There have been 
men who have passed long years in pain for truth's 
sake or for love's sake who have inspired souls with 
heroism. The fact that God loved them was to 
such men exaltation, enrichment, companionship, 
strength, and joy. The really successful life is the 
life in which one learns the lessons which make him 
pure, loving, constant, strong, patient, superior to 
external conditions, and invincible in soul. 

To the servant, like Hagar, and to the public 
man and prophet like Elijah, in the desert places of 
life, there may be met the angel of ministry and 
there may be received the water and the bread of 
life. If any man thirst, let him come. "Whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." 

Life — life renewed daily — life strong to serve — 
life brave to suffer — life full of sympathy — life 
abundant in ministry — life which will never fail — 
may be unto all who will believe and dwell in the 
love of God. 

There has been transacted on this earth a marvel- 
ous ministry of grace, healing, and salvation. There 
has been on this earth a wonderful history full of 
the experiences of those who have found God all- 
sufficient in the depth, tenderness, and strength of 
his love. This ministry has been given in part for 
our enlightenment, and this history has been written 
for our learning that we through like faith might 



150 The Secret of Successful Life 

know and enjoy the love of God. It is as Browning 
wrote of Lazarus and the Arab physician who saw 
and conversed with him: 

"Whence has the man the balm that brightens all? 

Indeed the especial marking of the man 

Is prone submission to the heavenly will — 

Seeing it, what it is, and why it is." 

So the Arab physician writes to his friend : 

"The very God! think, Abib; dost thou think? 
So, the All-Great were the All-Loving too — 
So, through the thunder comes a human voice 
Saying, 'O heart I made, a heart beats here, 
Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself! 
Thou hast no power nor mayest conceive of mine, 
But love I gave thee, with myself to love 
And thou must love me who have died for thee!' 
The madman saith He said so: it is strange." 



CHAPTER IX 
Faith 

T N THE north of Scotland spanning a small 
A stream, is a stone foot bridge on the keystone of 
whose arch is an inscription, "God and Me." The 
stream itself is small in summer, but when swollen 
by spring freshets, it becomes a raging torrent. 
Many years ago, when the stream was crossed by 
a footlog, a young girl lost her footing and fell into 
the swollen waters. She felt herself being swept 
down the current and she prayed to God to help 
her reach the shore. In answer to her prayer, so 
she believed, help came and she buffetted the oppos- 
ing waters until she was safely landed. In return 
for her deliverance, she promised that when she 
should be able, she would build a bridge across that 
stream. After many years of labor, she was able 
to redeem her promise and she built the bridge and 
placed upon it the above inscription. 

Had a vine held fast by its roots been floating 
in the water when that girl fell and had her hand 
grasped it, she would have been saved by faith in a 
physical means of deliverance. Her faith, a mater- 
alist would say, was well placed and justified. But 
was not her faith equally well placed and justified 
by its trust in a spiritual source of salvation? True, 
no audible voice from the sky responded to her cry 
and no hand from heaven was extended to help her 
escape from the waters. But in answer to her faith, 

I5i 



152 The Secret of Successful Life 

her soul was strengthened with confidence, and she 
was nerved for her struggle and saved from a watery 
grave. The soul is as real as the body, and strength 
of soul is as much a support as strength of body. 
This girl saved through prayer might have written 
her experience in words of the psalmist: "He sent 
from above, he took me, he drew me out of many 
waters." So she felt, and the bridge is the material 
monument to her belief. 

In the matter of faith, this Scotch girl was not 
exceptional. In the purpose of her faith, her exper- 
ience was her own, but in the nature of her faith 
and in its object, it was a common faith. In a recent 
book upon the work of some American women who 
have rendered most signal and valuable civic and 
social service, the author says, in the preface: "In 
almost every instance, they who have done so much 
for the public welfare have stated that they believe 
themselves to have been selected by a divine agency 
for their particular work and accountable to the Di- 
vinity for success or failure. The sense of a power 
beyond themselves, impelling them onward, was gen- 
eral. So was a great faith in the efficacy of prayer." 
The author who claims that she herself is "not a 
sentimental person" says, "The simplicity and sin- 
cerity with which this belief has been shown have 
made it impossible to doubt." 

This testimony seems much like that of Saint 
Paul who says of his own works and remarkable 
life, "By the grace of God I am what I am: and 
his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in 
vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: 



Faith 153 

yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 
That faith brings power to withstand evil in a 
wicked world, to work righteousness in the midst of 
sin, and to meet and often to overcome physical 
difficulty and danger, is a common experience of 
those who lead the most saintly and the most service- 
able lives. 

Faith not only frequently gives deliverance from 
danger and strength for service, but also patience 
of endurance and hope of future good. In fact, 
faith, gives hope when without it one might sink in 
despair. Among the men imprisoned by Napoleon 
I, was a man named Charney. This man wrote 
his brief creed on the wall of his cell in the words, 
"All things come by chance. ,, It was a comfortless 
creed. It gave no light to his mind and no cheer to 
his soul. One day as Charney was walking up and 
down the pavement, he saw a tiny blade lifting a 
green tip from between the flagging. He was inter- 
ested in it, as the only living thing around. He 
cared for it, watered it, and watched it grow. In 
return for his love and care, the plant became his 
teacher. It blossomed, finally, in a beautiful flower, 
rose-colored with white fringe. The man began 
to think that such a life and such beauty could not 
come by chance and could not flourish without lov- 
ing care. It occurred to his mind that higher life 
in this world cannot be the result of chance and can- 
not come to its best without love and care. He 
rubbed out the creed he had written upon the wall 
and wrote instead, "He who made all things is 
God." Light came to cheer his mind and a sense of 



154 The Secret of Successful Life 

love to comfort hi§ heart as he thought that if God 
could care for so tiny a flower in a prison and make 
it beautiful, God could care for him. Incidentally, 
Charney's love for the flower coming to the knowl- 
edge of a little girl whose father was also a pris- 
oner, was reported by her and, at length, reached the 
ears of the empress and resulted in Charney's 
liberation. But in the prison he had learned enough 
to believe the words of Jesus, "Consider the lilies 
how they grow." He had learned enough to believe 
that if God cares for the flowers of the field much 
more will He care for a living man who trusts Him. 
Faith is given the first place in the New Testa- 
ment as being the most essential thing in man. Love 
may be the greatest thing in human character, but 
faith is the most essential. Every normal child 
begins conscious life in faith. The child does not 
know love, but the child intuitively trusts love. It 
is out of this trust that love grows in the heart of 
a child. So is faith in God first in the heart of a 
true man and out of his faith, love grows. "Faith 
works by love." Notice the place given to faith in 
the New Testament. Faith is said to be the condi- 
tion of acceptance with God. "Without faith it is 
impossible to please Him." Faith is declared to be 
the condition of salvation, "He that believeth shall 
be saved." Faith is distinctly said to be the active 
principle of a saintly and heroic life. They who do 
great things in the service of God, do them by faith. 
"Through faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, and obtained promises." Faith is said 
to be the means of victory and of reward. "This 



Faith 155 

is the victory that overcometh the world, even our 
faith." Jesus says of such victors: "He that over- 
cometh, the same shall be clothed in white rain- 
ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the 
book of life, but I will confess his name before my 
Father and before His angels." The lack of faith is 
the cause of failure. Jesus turned away from His 
own immediate country and "He did not many 
mighty works there because of their unbelief." 
When the disciples asked Jesus the secret of their 
lack of power He said: "Because of your unbelief." 
The blessings of healing, pardon, and power of new 
life came as a result of faith. Faith, let it be un- 
derstood, is not primarily or chiefly a mental con- 
cept or an intellectual assent to statements of truth, 
valuable as this may be; but faith is an attitude of 
mind, a state of soul, a personal relation to a per- 
sonal presence and power. The Augsburg Confes- 
sion states this conception of faith in fitting words 
by saying, "This word faith is taken in Scriptures, 
not for such a knowledge as is in the wicked, but 
for a trust, which doth comfort and lift up dis- 
quieted minds." Faith is trust in a Person, a living 
Presence, a ruling Power, an inspiring Spirit. 
"God," says Jesus, "is a spirit and they that worship 
Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 
They who thus worship God revere Him, receive 
Him, and obey Him. These statements are not de- 
signed to discredit or to undervalue intellectual 
knowledge of truth, which may be most valuable; 
but to call attention to the fact that intellectual 
acceptance of statements of truth may be made 



156 The Secret of Successful Life 

where there is no obedience to the truth, and that 
there may be the spirit of obedience where there is 
little knowledge. These statements are also intended 
to call attention to the fact that faith according to 
the New Testament is a personal relation to a 
personal God. Faith is the response of the soul in 
its sensibilities and in its desires to the circumambi- 
ant Spirit of Life. 

Scientists now believe in a substance, like a lim- 
itless ocean or vapor, like a universal atmosphere of 
an ethereal nature, something invisible, imponder- 
able, intactible sensibly, in which all worlds lie, 
through which attraction passes, through which light 
flashes, and in which all forces which pass from 
world to world find their medium. In this name- 
less and unseen somewhat, all things exist. Scien- 
tists believe this not because of proof which may be 
demonstrated like a problem in mathematics ; but 
because such a viewless and imponderable substance 
gives a satisfactory physical basis for certain phe- 
nomena in nature. So it has come to pass that sci- 
entists accept belief in a physical environment simi- 
lar to the spiritual environment in which many men 
have believed, as affording a sufficient basis for the 
spiritual phenomena which exist in the world. God 
is a spirit by whose power all souls come to be, in 
whose love all souls lie, and by whose life all souls 
which attain complete life, find it. God, who is 
invisible and intangible to the physical senses of 
men but most real to the spiritual sense, is the one 
living reality and the one source of life to men. 

Jesus reveals to men not the metaphysical nature 



Faith 157 

of God but His moral qualities and His moral at- 
titude toward men. Jesus declares that God is lov- 
ing, merciful, gracious, sympathetic, and serviceable, 
ever ready to save and to serve men, ready to make 
them strong to overcome sin and death, and ready 
to make them perfect in character such as is worthy 
to endure. 

Every man dwells in God in so far as his existence 
is concerned, but the believing and loving man 
dwells in God intimately in that he is open to the 
influx of divine power which acts within the man, 
inspiring love and holiness. The dying plant, and 
the growing plant both are in the air, but their rela- 
tion to the air differs. To the one, the air is mainly 
external and will become wholly so when it is en- 
tirely dead ; to the other, the air is both external 
and internal in that it is nourishing the plant that 
grows. All men are in the air, but the air is also 
in living men as the support of life. All men are 
in God as the all-embracing spirit, but God is in the 
soul of the man who has faith. 

Faith is a state of soul, an attitude of mind, a 
relation to the omnipresent spirit whom we call 
God. Faith is the open eye which light may enter; 
the uncovered ear to which the voice of the Spirit 
may speak; the waiting heart which love may fill; 
the trustful soul which the tides of spiritual force 
may swell; the obedient will which inspiring grace 
may make strong. Faith, whether in reception or 
in action, is the response of the soul to God. 

Faith is the condition of receiving spiritual pow- 
er. It was power which Jesus promised to his dis- 



158 The Secret of Successful Life 

ciples when the Spirit should come upon them. It 
was power which marked the change in those dis- 
ciples when the Spirit came. They had power to 
know and to interpret the revelation and the will of 
God. They had power to see clearly, to think 
truly, to love intensely, to speak boldly, to endure 
bravely and to continue steadfastly in Christlike 
service. This has been the quality and the result of 
faith in all ages. Increased power, intensified from 
some moral source, is the explanation of extraordin- 
ary men of biblical history. The Spirit came upon 
strong men like Samson, and they became stronger ; 
upon skilful men like Bezalel, and they became more 
skilful ; upon men fitted for political leadership like 
Moses, and they became more capable; upon men 
of poetical and musical gifts like David, and they 
became more poetical and more musical ; upon men 
of spiritual vision like Isaiah, and they saw spiritual 
truth more clearly and expressed it more beauti- 
fully; upon willing and teachable men like the 
apostles, and they increased in boldness and in 
efficiency ; upon men of heroic nature like Paul, and 
they became invincible. The Spirit does not create 
new faculties in men of faith, but it makes more 
effective the faculties which they possess. The 
prophet has a clearer vision; the poet, a loftier 
flight; the singer, a sweeter tone; the man of ac- 
tion, a more resolute will ; and the obedient servant 
of the Lord, increased effectiveness. Evils are re- 
vealed, righteousness is declared, judgment is deci- 
sive, kingdoms of opposition to truth and righteous- 
ness are conquered, and kingdoms of truth and love 



Faith 1 59 

are established by such men. 

Men of common parts, by faith, partake also of 
these same graces as higher men. They see and 
appreciate things which higher men have said and 
have done and in their place and to their degree re- 
produce the same. After all, it is not the particu- 
lar work which men do nor its greatness, as men 
measure greatness; but the spirit in which men do 
their work which makes them great. To men of 
true faith, labor becomes a service of dignity, love 
becomes the sweet spirit of home, and the common 
round and trivial task of daily life are elevated and 
glorified by faith. 

They who learn to walk in love, to let the light 
of Christian character shine forth, and to do all 
things to the glory of God, are moving in the up- 
ward pathway and belong to the spiritual nobility 
of the universe, quite as well as men who by vir- 
tue of greater talent or more conspicuous position 
are marked and praised men. 

The secrets of the heavenly kingdom are revealed 
to the believing eye and the successes of the king- 
dom come to the submissive soul. Things which are 
hidden from the wise are revealed to the trustful, 
and power which is lacking to the strong who strive 
in their own strength is imparted to the weak who 
obey the divine will. Let it be known, however, 
that, "It is not intellect from which God hides 
Himself, but selfishness and pride which may be- 
long to taught and untanght, and darken the soul 
of sophist or of clown." 

"The differences," says James Martineau, "by 



160 The Secret of Successful Life 

which God is revealed are in us, not in him ; in our 
faculty of recognition, by no means, in his constancy 
of action. His light is alive in the very hearts of 
those who neglect or deny him; and in those who 
must own him is latent a thousand times for once 
that it flashes on their conscious eye. It is he who 
comes to us and finds us ; his presence rises of itself, 
and the revelation is spontaneous. Our sole con- 
cern is to accept it, to revere it, to follow it, to live 
by it." 

Certain results must inevitably follow that faith 
which is a loving relation to a personal God. Faith 
will deliver from that anxious care about the condi- 
tions of life which causes fretting and which con- 
sumes the strength of the soul by needless friction. 
Take not anxious thought, says Jesus. The reason 
for this freedom lies in the fact that the heavenly 
Father knows the things that are really needed. It 
goes without saying that, like a true father ; He will 
provide them. Things imagined, much more than 
things real, fret the souls of men. It is very sig- 
nificant that Jesus specified to-morrow rather than 
to-day, when he forbids anxiety. Faith brings free- 
dom from fretting. 

Faith, also, frees the soul from that foreboding 
which brings fear. Fears arises either from a feel- 
ing that strength will not be equal for the things 
which must be borne or performed, or from the idea 
that the things which may happen are uncontrolled, 
or from the thought that the effect of the things 
which may happen may be hurtful and inflict abid- 
ing injury and loss. Faith, however, faces the fu- 



Faith 161 

ture with the feeling that life is of divine appoint- 
ment, part of a divine plan, and that strength will 
be equal to the demands; that the things which 
occur are not uncontrolled, but are set within limita- 
tions; that any thing which may befall a believer 
cannot render abiding harm; and that "all things 
work together for good to them who love God." 
Jesus bids men not fear even them who may kill the 
body. Faith drives away that fear which hath tor- 
ment. Faith is not blind to the fact that pain and 
losses and sorrow may come, but these things are 
seen in true perspective; they are set in right rela- 
tion to other things; they are not the great and en- 
during things ; therefore they may be met with cour- 
age and confidence. 

Faith drives away doubt, despondency, and des- 
pair. Many persons walk beneath a murky sky, live 
in a depressing atmosphere, and suffer from des- 
pair in the soul; because they lack sufficient faith. 
To the mind of faith there is always a beneficent 
power ruling for good, a supreme strength of right- 
eousness invincible and bound to conquer, a certainty 
of good in the long run. Faith receives the light 
which streams through the cloud, breathes the upper 
stratum of air, and looks to the far future where the 
brilliant bow of promise rests on cloud and on land. 
Faith keeps the angel of hope in the heart of the be- 
lieving man. 

Faith, also, fastens itself in feeling, affection, de- 
sire, and expectation upon the things which are best. 
It is the intuitive nature of faith to see the best in 
nature, in persons, and in God. Faith sees the 



1 62 The Secret of Successful Life 

things which are true, just, lovely, honorable, and 
beneficent and believe that these are always good in 
themselves and will insure good. The soul full of 
of faith never fails, though it be set in the midst of 
evil. "This is the victory which overcomes the 
world, even our faith." 

Faith, finally, makes him who possesses it like 
Jesus Himself. Jesus was serene in the storm at 
sea which filled His disciples with fear. Jesus was 
calm in the midst of the angry crowd who thrust 
Him out of Nazareth. Jesus was sweet in spirit 
when men were soured in spirit in their contentions 
about places and honors. Jesus was kind when His 
disciples would have been cruel in their treatment 
of the citizens of an inhospitable village. Jesus 
was sane and judged the issue aright when His ene- 
mies plotted to take His life and when the shadow 
of the cross fell across His pathway. Jesus bade 
His disciples, also, bear an untroubled heart because 
of faith in God. "Believe in God, believe in Me" 
was His prescription for the cure of heart trouble. 

Many persons fail of comfort in life, exaggerate 
evil, dread to-morrow and walk in weakness, because 
they do not keep the soul stayed upon God. What 
such persons need is to give hospitality to the truth 
of God and they will find, as many have found, 
that God is indeed a refuge, a fortress, a shield. 
They will find that God is strength, salvation, and 
a song. They who trust Him may be kept in per- 
fect peace. They who wait upon Him, renew their 
strength. They walk and are not weary, they run 
and are not faint. 



Faith 163 

But one will say, "Look at the trouble or the sor- 
row which has come to me!" Yes, but is it more 
than the trouble or the sorrow which has come to 
many of the saints of God? Has not Job, bereft 
of all things, been taken as the abiding pattern of 
patience? Or if Job be regarded as a creation of the 
imagination, have we not known persons, like Job, 
bereft of property, family, and health, who have still 
blessed God and waited in patience for His deliver- 
ance? Have not some of the greatest letters, like 
Paul's epistles, and some of the greatest of books, 
like Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, come from the 
pens of men imprisoned? Have not some of the 
greatest of poems and of sermons been written by 
men who were blind, like Milton and George Math- 
eson? Have not some of the most helpful of hymns 
been composed by men bruised by suffering and 
sweetened by sorrow? Have not some of the most 
useful lives which the world has seen, been lives 
filled with personal suffering? No temptation or 
trial can overtake persons who live to-day but such 
as has been common to men. Faith has surmounted 
them all. The prayer of the believing soul to which 
passing years bring losses or wrongs or pains or 
sorrows should be, "Lord keep me sane, sweet, and 
strong. 5 ' 

No words have been used more commonly for 
comfort, than the words of the Twenty-third Psalm. 
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Mr. 
John R. Mott has analyzed the assurances of this 
psalm as follows: I shall not want rest; "He makes 
me to lie down in green pastures." I shall not want 



164 The Secret of Successful Life 

forgiveness; "He restoreth my soul." I shall not 
want guidance ; "He leadeth me in the paths of right- 
eousness." I shall not want companionship; "for 
Thou art with me." I shall not want comfort; 
"Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." I shall 
not want food ; "Thou preparest a table before me." 
I shall not want joy; "Thou anointest my head 
with oil." I shall not want any thing in this life; 
"surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
days of my life." I shall not want any thing in 
eternity; "I will dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever." 

To those who try and test this psalm in their own 
life, experience will give such assurance of its truth 
that they may say in the language of another psalm: 
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His 
benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who 
healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life 
from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving 
kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy 
desire with good things, so that thy youth is renewed 
like the eagle's." 

Faith is the soul of true greatness. It has been 
well said: "There are two types of human great- 
ness — the pagan and the Christian — the moral and 
the religious — the secular and the divine. The 
former has its root and essence in trying hard; the 
latter, in trusting gently ; the one depends on volun- 
tary energy, the other on the relinquishment of per- 
sonal will to cast every burden upon God. The 
one chooses its own ends and elaborates the - means; 
the other, possessed by a God-given end, becomes its 



Faith 165 

organ and its implement, and simply lets it use from 
day to day, the entire powers of the soul. There 
is no instrument so tremendous in this world as a 
human soul thus committed to what is diviner than 
itself." 

The pure in heart see God. They who love, 
know God. They who obey, live with God. With 
God there is ever the guidance of light, the sweet- 
ness and the joy of love, the endurance and the vic- 
tory of power. 

One of three things must be believed. Either 
this world is left to chance, or it is in the control of 
fate, or it is guided by wisdom and unfailing power. 
If the world is given over to chance, then one must 
be driven by his own passions or by popular pas- 
sions which may be like the waves of the sea and the 
sweep of the wind without purpose and without con- 
trol. If the world is controlled by fate, one must 
surrender himself to forces of whose origin, nature, 
and purpose he can know nothing. If the world is 
governed by a God of wisdom, love, and power; 
then one may trust the present, and quietly hope 
for the future. 

Cromwell once said, "One never mounts so high 
as when one knows not whither one is going." The 
man who in faith, answers the call of the spirit, 
follows the gleam of holy light, and obeys the 
inspiration of love, will find that he learns the 
truth, walks in the light, fulfills the will of God, 
and so is saved and safe. 

Faith has been called a sixth sense. Faith is the 
sense which sets a man in right relation to God and 



1 66 The Secret of Successful Life 

to the universe. "What reason is to things demon- 
strable, such faith is to the invisible realties of the 
spirit world, " says an Oriental writer. Reason is 
richly rewarded in knowledge gained by exercising 
itself on things demonstrable. Faith is richly re- 
warded in experience gained by trusting spiritual 
verities. Reason is rewarded by knowledge com- 
prehended by the intellect. Faith is rewarded by 
personal knowledge experienced in the soul. "Here- 
by know we love." 

"What is faith, but to believe what you do not 
see?" said Saint Augustine. This accords with the 
scripture which says that "faith is a conviction of 
things not seen." But faith is, also, more than 
this. Faith is to believe what the soul sees to be 
beautiful, what the conscience affirms to be good, 
what the heart in its purest impulses is impelled to 
love. Faith is a power in the soul which enables one 
to give up the inferior beauty, the lower good, the 
baser reward, for what one sees to be higher. 
To believe in a better country and to seek it, like 
Abraham; to give up the wealth and the power of 
the world for the souPs enrichment and the soul's 
service, like Moses; to flee from the pleasure of 
sense, when pleasure would be sin, like Joseph; to 
respond to a call from God in the night time, like 
Samuel; to see what great things one may suffer 
for Christ and to choose them, like Paul; to face 
impending martyrdom and to accept it, like Peter; 
this is faith. Faith claims the promises of God and 
finds them exceedingly great and precious. 

Men of faith are not lifted out of the common 



Faith 167 

experiences of life, but through these experiences, 
they come to what, to men without Christ, are 
uncommon experiences. Sin is a common experi- 
ence; but forgiveness is a Christian experience. 
Temptation is a common experience; but triumph 
over it, is a Christian experience. Suffering is a 
common experience, but patient waiting in hope is a 
Christian experience. Sorrow is a common experi- 
ence, but comfort is a Christian experience. Death 
is a common experience, but persuasion of victory 
and immortal life is a Christian experience. 

Faith does not change outward natural condi- 
tions, but faith tends to give health of body, sanity of 
mind, and strength of soul. Faith cleanses the 
affections, sweetens the disposition, sustains the will, 
and increases the entire life of man. If physical 
well-being, mental clarity and strength, spiritual 
efficiency and the achievement of good, be con- 
sidered success in life ; then, the man of faith is the 
man of success. 

Faith, then, in brief, is the relation of the soul 
in all its powers of feeling, thought, and will, to 
God. Faith believes that God is the absolute Cause 
and Creator of all things and so lives in Him. Faith 
believes that the natural conditions of the world are 
of God's purpose and appointment, and so accepts 
them without question and without resistance, with- 
out fretting and without fear. Faith believes in 
God's wisdom and so accepts cheerfully the normal 
and destined w r ay, and finds that way good. Faith 
believes in God's unfailing love, and so trusts Him 
for all things needed. Faith believes in God's care 



1 68 The Secret of Successful Life 

and purpose for the individual and so submits to His 
providence and obeys His law. Faith believes in 
God's mercy, and so forsakes sins and forgets them 
as belonging to a past from which there is free- 
dom. Faith believes in God's grace, and so receives 
from Him power to rise from a dead past to new 
and higher life. Faith believes in God's power as 
something to be imparted to man, and so faces duty, 
difficulty, danger, and things which, like death, seem 
to defeat the soul in the hope of sufficient spiritual 
energy to insure success and victory. Faith believes 
in God's eternity and so hopes in Him to have eter- 
nal life. Faith sings ever in Saint Paul's immortal 
paean: "I am persuaded that neither death nor life, 
things present nor things to come, height nor depth, 
nor any creature is able to separate us from the love 
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 



CHAPTER X 

Obedience 

f~\ BEDIENCE is the way of peace and of power. 
^^ Obedience escapes the hindrance of friction and 
receives the inspiration of force. In inanimate na- 
ture, every planet in the sky, every wave upon the 
breast of the sea, every river rolling on its course, 
and every particle of matter which enters into the 
structure of any material thing, must obey the forces 
by which it is touched and moved, if its destiny is 
fulfilled. Here is no freedom but only submission. 
This is the law of perfect form and of freedom from 
pain and from deformity, in every animated physi- 
cal body. f 

Obedience is the absolute condition of success in 
human affairs. Whether one is in a hospital for the 
healing of the sick, or in a school for the education 
of the mind, or in a factory for the accomplishment 
of some work, or in an army for military service; 
one must obey those in authority. The prescriptions 
of the doctor must be followed ; the lessons assigned 
by the teacher must be learned ; the directions of the 
foreman must be carried out; the commands of the 
captain must be obeyed. Without obedience, the 
business of the world would be disordered and de- 
stroyed ; wnth obedience, the business of the world 
is performed regularly and good results are secured. 
Among fallible men, one in authority may err in his 
commands ; but, even with this possibility, none may 

169 



170 The Secret of Successful Life 

venture to disobey — except in most extraordinary 
instances and with clear vision — for, on the whole, 
obedience is essential to the accomplishmen of life's 
tasks. 

In any sphere where there is unerring wisdom and 
absolute authority, obedience must be universal. 
Where a law of God is revealed, there the life of 
man must move. As men obey God and so become 
workers together with Him, they achieve their great- 
est works and attain their highest good. One who 
would attempt to walk without regard to the law 
of gravity, or to swim without thought of the laws 
of water, or to secure harvests without knowledge 
and care of seasons, seeds, soil, and sunshine, would 
absolutely fail. Men gain success only as they 
think God's great thoughts after Him, work with 
Him in agriculture and in manufacturing, move 
with Him in transportation of merchandise, and 
submit to Him in all the ways of physical busi- 
ness. One may deceive and defraud his fellowman 
in a business transaction and seem to gain; but no 
one can deceive or defraud God. To attempt to 
defraud God is to defeat one's self. Disobedience 
to God is the destruction of one's endeavor. This 
men recognize in the physical universe; this men 
should recognize in the spiritual universe. 

Jesus, the highest revelation of spiritual reality 
and the greatest teacher of moral truth, lays supreme 
emphasis upon obedience. These are some of Jesus' 
significant sayings: "Whoso ver heareth these say- 
ings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a 
wise man." "If a man love me, he will keep my 






Obedience 171 



words." "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, 
Lord/ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but 
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven/' "Whosover shall do the will of God, the 
same is my brother, and my sister, and mother/' 

Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but to ful- 
fil it. Jesus reveals the spirit of that law which is 
perfect trust in God and perfect love of men. Jesus 
enlarges love beyond geographical and racial lines, 
frees it from limitations which men had placed 
arourid it, and makes it the universal principle of 
holy living. Without love, a man cannot worship 
God, or keep the commandments, or fulfil his duty, 
or attain his destiny. 

There is no department of life, save this of the 
spirit, of which men think results may be attained 
and rewards received without fulfilment of the con- 
ditions on which they rest. But in the sphere of 
spirit, some think the fruits of love may be obtained 
without love and the rewards of righteousness may 
be received without righteousness. This false and 
injurious opinion arises from one of two sources. It 
arises, sometimes, from the presumptuous thought 
that the goodness of God will compel Him to give 
good to men irrespective of character and deserts. 
It arises, sometimes, in part, at least, from the 
teaching long current that the righteousness of 
Christ is a substitute for the righteousness of men, 
and that the righteousness of Christ is imputed 
rather than imparted unto men. Men have been 
taught that they are justified by faith as one is 
justified whose commercial debt has been paid by 



172 The Secret of Successful Life 

another, rather than that they are justified as a 
branch grafted into a good tree is justified because 
of the life that is in it, promising blossom and fruit. 
The former conception led men to rest satisfied in an 
imputed righteousness; the latter conception leads 
men to seek to become perfect by the development 
of the life that is in them. 

Jesus received His name because He would save 
His people from their sins, not in their sins. He 
"hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
that He might bring us to God." "He died for 
all, that they which live should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto Him." The purpose 
of Jesus' work was to the end "that the righeous- 
ness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Through 
Jesus we are brought near to God, reconciled to 
Him and made willing to do His will rather than 
our own will. There can be no success in the 
Christian life save as one conforms to this law of 
obedience. 

The call of God is a call for the heart of man. 
The demand for faith is a demand for that condition 
of mind which will make a man follow God in 
thinking and in willing. The salvation promised 
in the gospel is salvation from self-will unto delight 
in doing the will of God. The saved man is a fol- 
lower of Jesus who said, "Lo, I am come to do thy 
will, O God." Jesus' prayer was, "Not my will, 
but thine be done." When Jesus bids men come 
unto Him for rest, He clearly indicates that rest will 
be found only when they have learned of Him to 



Obedience 173 



possess a meek and quiet spirit. When Saint Paul 
bids men live so as to be transformed by a renewing 
of the mind, it is to the end that they may learn 
by practice what is the good and acceptable will of 
God. When Saint Paul bids men have in them the 
mind which was in Christ, it is to the end that, like 
Christ, they may not cherish pride, but may con- 
descend to serve with a lowly mind and a loving 
heart. 

Salvation, as a possession, is the cultivation in 
man of the moral qualities of God. The saved man 
is the godly — Godlike — man. Practically, a man is 
not saved because he is loved, but because he loves. 
A man is not saved because he is forgiven, but be- 
cause he is forgiving. A man is not saved by receiv- 
ing mercy, but by being merciful. A man is not 
saved by knowing sympathy, but by being sympa- 
thetic. A man is not saved by knowing generosity, 
but by being generous. The bestowment of mercy, 
forgiveness, and grace upon any man is to the 
end that he may have these same qualities in his own 
character. Jesus bids men be merciful as the Father 
is merciful; to do good as the Father does good; 
and be perfect as the Father is perfect. This is the 
goal of salvation. It is to be gained by the prac- 
tice of the graces of the Spirit. 

One who would succeed in the Christian life must 
rise above the law of nature into the law of grace. 
The impulses of the natural man may be regarded 
as the law of nature. A man naturally thinks of 
himself and thinks but little of others. Jesus says 
a man must love his neighbor as himself. He must 



174 The Secret of Successful Life 

learn to consider his neighbor as himself and to re- 
gard his neighbor as he regards himself. He must 
not treat his neighbor in a way which would be in- 
jurious to himself, were the places changed. A man 
naturally seeks things for himself and measures them 
by their value to himself. Jesus would have a man 
seek the things which are profitable to others, and 
value them by what they are worth to the world. 
A man naturally invites to his home and to his 
feasts, those who can repay the favor. Jesus bids 
a man invite those who cannot repay. A man 
naturally lends to them of whom he hopes to re- 
ceive. Jesus bids a man lend to them from whom 
he can receive nothing. A man naturally does good 
to them who do good to him. Jesus bids him do 
good to them who do evil to him. That is to say, 
a man should do good spontaneously and without re- 
gard to the actions of others. In all this, one is to 
rise above the natural impulses of his own heart into 
the sublimer state in which his impulses become holy 
and godlike because they are genuinely unselfish and 
loving. 

Again, one must rise above the civil law which 
regulates the conduct of a citizen. Many persons 
tend to regulate much of their conduct according 
to the civil law and to regard themselves as being 
good so long as they are not violating the laws of 
men. Jesus clearly teaches that His disciples must 
rise into a higher state of judgment and motive. 
The natural law of the heart of man impels him 
when injured to inflict, in return, a more severe 
injury. Naturally, a man will try to strike a harder 



Obedience 175 



blow than he has received ; to say a sharper word 
than he has heard; to repay in kind beyond what 
he has suffered. Human law tends to restrain this 
natural tendency and to limit punishment to retalia- 
tion. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" 
was the restraining injunction of the Mosaic law. 
But Jesus says, "I say unto you that ye resist not 
evil/' Meet the angry word by a soft answer. Meet 
the blow struck by non resistance. Meet even an un- 
just demand by more than is asked. If the law or 
the custom of the country will compel you to go one 
mile with a traveler to show him the way, go with 
him two miles. Do more than the law demands. 
Now all this implies that the man who obeys the 
higher law will not regulate his conduct by the com- 
mands of the civil law which are usually negative, 
nor by the actions of other men who may be evil, but 
by the impulses of that great and gracious Spirit 
which impels him to do good actively as the plan of 
his life. Can this be carried out? Try it. When 
one member of your family, having passed an un- 
comfortable night, comes to your breakfast table 
in an unhappy frame of mind and speaks a sharp 
word, reply in like tone and you may easily have a 
family quarrel. Return a soft answer and quarrel- 
ing is impossible, and most likely the mind of the 
irritated member of your family will be soothed. 
Let one child who has been struck by another child, 
return the blow, and there will be a fight. Let the 
child who has been struck, refuse to return the 
blow, and most probably shame will suffuse the 
heart of the child who was angry. Let a neighbor 



176 The Secret of Successful Life 

do you a wrong, and repay him in kind, and you 
will have double wrong in your neighborhood. If 
opportunity offers, do kindness to the evil neighbor, 
and a flame of fire will burn his conscience. The 
principle of Jesus' teaching is that evil never can be 
overcome by evil, but must be overcome by good. 
Society never will rise high by the natural impulses 
of the human heart and, by the negative statutes of 
human law. There must be a deeper, purer, and 
more perfect source of improvement. 

The natural man is governed by the impulses of 
his own nature, and lives in selfishness, doing good 
or evil according as he thinks it will pay him. The 
citizen lives with regard to law and refrains from 
doing the things which will injure others. His 
goodness is the absence of badness and, so far forth, 
is gain. The social man lives with regard to his 
own class; he sends his invitations to feasts, lends 
his money, and confers his favors, where like kind- 
nesses may be returned to him. So far forth, the 
social man is in advance, for he does good within 
limitations; but he does this good because it will 
benefit himself. The spiritual man lives in love, 
learns to obey the new commandment and to love as 
Jesus loved. 

How did Jesus love? Did Jesus love men be- 
cause they were really lovable? No. Jesus loved 
because men needed love and because they might 
become lovable. One may love a beautiful child 
simply because he loves himself, and the beauty of 
the child pleases him. One may love a child be- 
cause the child needs love, and becaues love may 



Obedience 177 



brighten and bless the child. That is the way Jesus 
loved. He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
Me." What then? "I must bind up the broken 
hearted, open the eves of the blind, preach deliver- 
ance to captives, and do good to men." What Jesus 
had of spiritual endurement was for the use of love. 

Jesus called unto Him His disciples and gave 
unto them power. What then? "Go," He said, 
"heal the sick, cast out devils, preach the gospel." 
Power was for beneficent use. This is the law of 
the kingdom. Whether a man's power is physical 
strength, or mental vigor, or the faculty of making 
money, or administrative ability, or personal influ- 
ence, it must be consecrated and used so as to bene- 
fit and not to injure men. 

Slowly indeed has the world been coming to be- 
lieve the words of Jesus, to realize the regal great- 
ness of His spirit, and to know that the way of love 
and of loving service is the way of peace and of 
power. Certain individuals have caught the inner 
meaning of Jesus' words, have believed them, have 
lived according to them, and have become benefac- 
tors in society. But these have been looked upon 
as exceptional persons rather than as true examples 
of Christian living. Many dissatisfied and unhappy 
persons whose names stand upon a church roll and 
who in many ways are good people, would find 
life filled with new interest and zeal, with fresh hap- 
piness and joy, if just where they are and in the 
things they must do, they were to cultivate the spirit 
of Jesus and love as He loved. An introspective, 
self-centered, self-circumscribed life is the secret of 



178 The Secret of Successful Life 

the unhappiness of many people. Jesus in His daily 
life did not follow a set program. He simply went 
about doing good as the opportunity came. Much 
that He did, in comparison with His person and 
His power, was lowly ministry; but His spirit made 
everything great. It is neither where you are, nor 
what you do, but the spirit in which you live and 
speak and act, that counts. 

Very gradually, the light of this truth is dawn- 
ing upon the minds of men. They are beginning to 
see that all life is to be fulfilled in the spirit of 
Jesus. The religious man is no longer the 
man of a certain order of office, but the 
man of a certain spirit. The laborer who 
toils, the merchant who distributes, the cap- 
italist who controls money, the statesman who di- 
rects the course of political history, and the man in 
any walk of life may live and must live in the spirit 
of ministry, if his life is to fulfill the will of God 
and so be complete and perfect. 

There has been much false teaching, and, as a 
result thereof, much misconception of the meaning 
of labor and of business. This has tended to debase 
the motives of men and to destroy pure morality. A 
few examples may be noted. For centuries, the 
Chritian church taught that labor is part of the 
curse which followed the fall of man. Unfallen 
man was a gentleman, a lord, who should live with- 
out labor. Fallen man is a serf, doomed to toil as 
a penalty for sin. Labor, therefore, could be only 
servile in spirit and a form of life to be escaped. 
Teachers of economics taught "the iron law oi 



Obedience 179 



wages," namely, that the natural wage to be paid 
a workman was the lowest amount which the labor- 
er will accept and on which laborers can be repro- 
duced. Teachers of political economy taught that 
the merchant who bought in the lowest market, sold 
in the highest, and so obtained the greatest imme- 
diate profit for himself, fulfilled the whole law of 
merchandising. Apparently, it did not occur to such 
teachers that this spirit and method discouraged 
production, lessened the number of purchases which 
a customer could make, lessened the wealth of the 
world, and so limited the wealth of the merchant 
himself. 

Economists also taught bankers to exact the high- 
est possible interest so as to enrich themselves. Such 
teachers failed to see that they discouraged invest- 
ments, lessened the scope of investments, and, in 
the end, decreased the income even of the bankers 
themselves. Political economists, both by the spirit 
and the letter of their teachings, taught rulers to 
regard their own interest first. The ruling class 
considered themselves as divinely elected to live as 
parasites upon society, rendering no equivalent ser- 
vice for what they received. 

All this the spirit of the divine kingdom inspired 
by Christianity has been changing and will yet 
continue to change. As, historically, the struggle 
for religious freedom led to the establishment of 
political freedom; so the doctrines of indebtedness 
for divine grace, of the law of love, and of the obli- 
gation of service, declared in the church, have been 
leavening the world, The change wrought is of 



180 The Secret of Successful Life 

value chiefly in the formation of character, but it is 
also of immense value in contributing to the mater- 
ial welfare of the world. 

The laborer who learns to live in the spirit of the 
carpenter of Nazareth, the laborer who regards labor 
not as a curse but as a blessing, who measures the 
value of his work not in terms of wages but in terms 
of its worth to the world, becomes a free man whose 
toil does not enslave but ennobles. The merchant who 
learns to conduct his business in the spirit of Him 
who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, 
the merchant who regards the rights of the produc- 
er from whom he buys and the welfare of the cus- 
tomer to whom he sells, who allows a profit to the 
producer and is content with a small profit from 
the consumer, will find that he encourages produc- 
tion and increases the number of things which his 
customer will buy, thereby increasing directly the 
wealth of the world and indirectly increasing his 
own wealth. The banker who learns to live in the 
spirit of Him who believes that He has freely re- 
ceived and so should freely give, the banker who is 
content with moderate interest which allows the 
borrower to make a profit on his business, will 
find that he increases the number of his customers 
and the number of those who have money to place in 
his bank for care and use, and so increases his own 
business and profits. The statesman who learns to 
live in the spirit of Him who says that he who serves 
most is greatest, finds that by serving the people over 
whom he rules, he increases their loyalty and the 
security of his own power. 



Obedience 181 



Men are beginning to see that both the welfare 
and the wealth of the world are increased by obed- 
ience to the law of Christ. Churches, colleges, and 
universities are teaching a much more enlightened 
science of life to the young than was formerly 
taught. The change which has taken place within 
the past forty years is most marked. Subjects which 
scarcely would have been mentioned in a college 
course forty years since, are now fully considered. 
The churches no longer teach that labor is a penalty 
but that it belongs to the natural order of the world. 
Colleges teach, in the treatment of economics, that 
the dignity, the rights, and opportunities of the 
individual man must be regarded. Universities 
teach that political economy is not simply "the sci- 
ence of wealth, " but the science of right living. 

Experience, also, has shown the fallacy of much 
past doctrine and the value of Christian principles 
of living. "The iron law of wages" is past. Exper- 
ience has proved that to give the laborer such condi- 
tions of labor and of living as increase comfort and 
inspire hope, is to increase intelligence, capability, 
and efficiency. Governmental control of banking 
with its effort to make money obtainable at low 
rates of interest; the growing disposition of mer- 
chants to be content with small profits and to de- 
pend on large sales; public effort to obtain a mini- 
mum wage and the legal regulation of hours and 
conditions of labor, are all indications of the effort 
to destroy injustice and oppression, and to make pos- 
sible freedom both of labor and of capital within just 
lines for the benefit of mankind in general. Sue- 



1 82 The Secret of Successful Life 

cess along these lines can be secured in full only 
when, in addition to law, the spirit of service takes 
possession of the hearts of mankind, and men strive 
to do the best they can for one another in the work 
and the business of life. Law, in the main, can 
restrain only from certain violations of what is 
right; love can compel obedience to what is right. 

Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto and I 
work." He who believes that the law of the 
divine life is revealed in the spirit and the ministry 
of Jesus, and who endeavors to obey that law in his 
own life, will find himself able to fulfil that law. 
He who sees the heavenly vision, and who hears the 
divine voice, will be able to obey the divine law of 
life. 

There is a traditional story of Abraham which 
will serve to illustrate this fact. "When Abraham 
sat at his tent door, according to his custom, wait- 
ing to entertain strangers, he espied an old man 
stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age 
and travel, coming towards him, who was an hun- 
dred years of age. He received him kindly, washed 
his feet, provided supper, and caused him to sit 
down ; but observing that the old man ate and pray- 
ed not, nor begged for a blessing upon his meat, 
Abraham asked him why he did not worship the 
God of heaven. The old man told him that he wor- 
shipped the fire only and acknowledged no other 
god ; at which answer, Abraham grew so zealously 
angry, that he thrust the old man out of his tent, 
and exposed him to all the evils of the night and an 
unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, 



Obedience 183 



God called to him and asked him where the stranger 
was; he replied, 'I thrust him away, because he did 
not worship Thee.' God answered, 'I have suffered 
him these hundred years, though he dishounored me; 
and couldest thou not endure him for one night, 
when he gave thee no trouble?' Upon this, saith 
the story, Abraham fetched him back again and 
gave him hospitable entertainment and wise instruc- 
tion. Go thou and do likewise, and thy charity will 
be 'rewarded by' the God of Abraham. " It was the 
knowledge of what God did that enabled Abraham 
to love in most practical ways the man whom he had 
regarded as loveless. Faith in God as revealed in 
the gospel and the desire of fellowship with Him, 
lead ever in the ways of right living. This ever has 
been the method of the holiest character and the 
highest service. 

The New Testament insists on obedience as the 
indispensable condition of spiritual well-being. He 
that believeth not, he that loveth not, he that obey- 
eth not, is condemned. "He that believeth not is 
condemned. " "If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ, let him be anathema." "They that obey not 
the gospel, shall be punished with everlasting de- 
struction." But on the other hand, it is written, 
"Believe and thou shalt be saved." "If a man love 
Me, he will keep My words," says Jesus. "He 
became unto all them that obey Him, the author 
of eternal salvation." These are among the plainest 
promises of the New Testament. 

Obedience must be in the spirit in that it is sub- 
jected to the mind and the ways of Christ. All 



184 The Secret of Successful Life 

revelation is for knowledge. All doctrine is to make 
possible fulfillment of duty. All ritual of worship 
is for discipline in righteousness. Therefore, suc- 
cess can come only through obedience. 

Failure in Christian living comes more frequently 
through lack of obedience than in any other way. 
If any one is failing either in the strength or in the 
joy of Christian living, he may well inquire whether 
he is obeying the love and the law of Christ. One 
who frets about the future is failing in faith in 
God. One who cherishes an irritable and unloving 
spirit is failing to dwell in the love of God. One 
who does not endeavor to render some service is 
failing to move with the moving power of God. 
One who makes the acquistion of wealth the chief 
aim in life, is failing to act with God in the supreme 
purpose of living. One who is permitting the love 
of pleasure to absorb thought and time to the neglect 
of better things, is quenching the spirit and losing 
the flame of devotion. 

But he who trusts God for the future and obeys 
Him in the present; who keeps himself in daily 
consciousness of the love of God for him; who 
makes his daily living a daily service in whatever 
he does; who uses increasing power of strength, 
knowledge, or wealth as a means of doing good; 
who, in all things, seeks to glorify God and to ben- 
efit men, will find the peace of God possessing his 
mind, the love of God warming his heart, and the 
power of God making him strong. His face will 
have a look of peace. He will have a certain win- 
someness of nature. He will have unfailing power 



Obedience 185 



in himself. He will never want for joy. 

No one can stand upon the sunny heights, where 
heaven lies and where the overhanging sky is ever 
clear, without absolute faith in God. No one can 
be serene in the midst of the storms of life unless 
his confidence is in Him who is above all storms 
and without whose causative or permissive will, 
storms cannot be. No one can be strong in the 
midst of the duties, difficulties, disappointments, and 
apparent defeats of life unless he is moving with the 
divine spirit in ways of truth and love. If success 
comes to any one in the way of Christian living, it 
must come along the line of implicit obedience to the 
will of God. To the man who obeys, all things 
belong; for he is Christ's and Christ is God's. 
To him, heaven will flash with beauty, earth will 
bear rich bounty, men will become friends, and life 
will enrich him as a child of God. 



CHAPTER XI 

Neglect 

A N Oriental writer of proverbs and an observer 
**of the causes and the consequences of gain and 
loss in life has said: 

"1 went by the field of the sluggard, 
And by the vineyard of the man void of under- 
standing, 
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, 
The face thereof was covered with nettles, 
And the stone wall thereof was broken down. 
I saw and received instruct ion.' ' 

This was a wise man, for he walked with open 
eyes; an observant man, for he saw the condition 
of the field of the slothful and of the vineyard of the 
man void of understanding; a man of discernment, 
for he perceived that the cause of the sad condition, 
was neglect. This fact of neglect as the cause of 
grave consequence, many fail to see. This is espe- 
cially true of the life and the welfare of the spirit. 

There is a quiet assumption on the part of many 
persons, that a man must make a positive choice of 
evil and pursue it with zeal and steadfastness if he 
is to be adjudged worthy of condemnation, and suf- 
fer irretrievable loss. Is it not strange that with 
all the patent facts of nature and of life, it has not 
occurred to them that a man must make a positive 

1 86 



Neglect 187 

choice of good and pursue it with zeal and stead- 
fastness, if he is to be deemed worthy of commen- 
dation and of abiding reward? 

If a man enters this world at the summit of hu- 
man character and attainment, then, of course, he 
can descend from that summit only by a choice 
which leads downward. But if a man enters the 
world at the beginning of human character, a crea- 
ture to be developed, then, he can rise only by 
choice and action. Embryonic life everywhere is a 
capacity of reception, a potential power, a possibility, 
a promise. Everywhere, with plants and animals 
alike, life is conditioned, and all that is necessary to 
insure failure, is neglect. A neglected garden runs 
to weeds; its few plants left from former cultiva- 
tion deteriorate or die outright. A neglected field 
yields no harvest. A neglected animal, though the 
product of former care and culture, speedily reverts 
to a lower type. Moles which have burrowed in 
the earth, have lost their eyesight. Fish which live 
in caverns, like the Mammoth Cave, become blind. 
Minds unexercised become idiotic or insane. Neglect 
everywhere tends to degeneration. Degeneration is 
as common as development. The end of degenera- 
tion is death. 

One of the solemn and significant questions of the 
scriptures is this: "How shall we escape, if we 
neglect so great salvation?" The scriptures leave 
the question unanswered, because the answer is 
obvious. The word salvation, so far as it relates 
to the means of securing that state, is the revelation 
of divine love and the promise of redemption and of 



188 The Secret of Successful Life 

the gift of the spirit of life. The word salvation, 
in so far as it relates to the acceptance of the means 
and the achievement of character and life, means 
a condition which man may attain. All that is re- 
quired to fail of salvation, is neglect. This is in 
full accord with the law of life everywhere. Neglect 
on the part of farmer or gardner or fruit grower, 
means the loss of possible gain and, ultimately, the 
loss of all he had set himself to cultivate. Death is 
quite as common as life, and more natural. "Life 
is the sum total of the forces which resist death." 
The preservation and the perfection of life every- 
where are conditioned. Asphyxia is suspended ani- 
mation resulting from interrupted respiration. If 
an animate creature neglects to breathe, whatever 
may be the cause, poison of the blood and cessation 
of heart beat ensue, and the result is death. If a 
living creature neglects to eat food ; weakness, faint- 
ing, and death soon follows. All that is required 
to insure death is neglect of the means of sustaining 
life. Solitary confinement produces insanity. The 
lonely life of many country people prior to the mod- 
ern means of conversation by telephone and of travel 
by trolley, resulted in a large number of cases of in- 
sanity, especially among women. 

It is in accord with all this, that faith, love, and 
hope should fail, and the qualities of spiritual life 
decay ; if the conditions of their growth are not im- 
proved. The neglect of the means of their develop- 
ment insures their loss. 

"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
reap." This is an abiding law of nature. And, if 



Neglect 189 

a man sows nothing, he will reap nothing. Should 
a man who sows nothing, reap a golden harvest of 
wheat? Should a student who is indolent, reap the 
rewards of scholarship? Would there be incentive 
to arduous and high endeavor, if neglect of labor 
and of study issued in the same rewards as effort 
and diligence? In every sphere of life in which 
things material and mental are concerned, men 
recognize the rule and the justice of the law of re- 
ward. They find the law a beneficent condition 
of the development of that which is good, and an 
incentive to effort which insures gain. Only in 
the sphere of the spirit, do men claim that grace 
should bring holiness and heaven to men, irrespec- 
tive of their own choice and effort. Here alone, 
do men think there should be a lawless world in 
which eternal life should be given to all men. How 
can this be? Law must rule here as elsewhere 
in God's universe. The Son of God did not come 
into the world to destroy law, but to fulfill it. He 
does not save men by making them free from law, 
but by enabling them to fulfill law. This is the 
covenant which I will make, saith the Lord: "I will 
put my laws on their heart, and upon their mind 
also will I write them." Obedience is not to the 
letter but to the spirit of the law. The law here 
as elsewhere is beneficent. It makes for good char- 
acter and for a perfect society. It is a high law 
because man is to have a high destiny. Great char- 
acter could not be produced in a lawless world 
where rewards are conferred without regard to de- 
sert. Men are saved from sin, but not through 



190 The Secret of Successful Life 

lawlessness. Forgiveness is restoration to the divine 
favor, and is a most gracious act on the part of God. 
But salvation which is the completion of character 
in the likeness of God, is an achievement. Salva- 
tion is accomplished by the acceptance of the con- 
ditions of the spiritual life and by obedience to the 
laws of the divine kingdom. 

Men usually do not become bad by first choosing 
some evil thing and pursuing it with zeal. Men 
become bad by refusing to choose some good thing 
and by neglecting to grow in the love of righteous- 
ness. The man who pursues something good with 
ardor, is not usually led into base sins. The old 
adage that "Satan finds some work for idle hands 
to do" rests on a very common law. Nature, it 
is said, abhors a vacuum. Something will fill it. 
Jesus relates a parable of a man out of whom an 
evil spirit was cast, but into whom nothing good 
entered. As a result, seven spirits more evil than 
the first entered into that man and dwelt in him. 
An uninhabited house becomes the abode of spiders 
and bats and unclean insects. An imagination which 
cherishes pictures of uncleanness and lawlessness, 
leads to a lawless and unclean life. "Keep thy 
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues 
of life." "Out of the heart," says Jesus, "proceed 
evil thoughts, murders, blasphemies." The heart 
which is not actively engaged in taking in things 
true, pure, and good soon will be filled with things 
false, impure, and evil. The tragedy of life pro- 
ceeds from an empty and then from an evil heart. 

Fineness of nature is marked by sensitiveness tQ 



Neglect 191 

impressions. There is a great difference in persons 
in respect of sensitiveness in the senses of touch, 
taste, smell, seeing, and hearing. The different 
colors in the spectrum are made by the different 
number of vibrations of light per second. Persons 
who are color-blind cannot distinguish these differ- 
ences, and so cannot distinguish colors. In the 
sense of hearing, there is not only a natural differ- 
ence in persons, but there is a great difference be- 
tween the untrained and the trained ear. With 
respect to pitch in musical notes, Preyer found that 
unpracticed persons distinguish a difference of from 
eight to sixteen vibrations as producing a distinct 
difference in the sensation of pitch. It has been 
said that, "The trained musician can detect by ear 
a difference in quality between two tones of four 
hundred and four hundred and one-third vibrations 
per second/' 

This fineness of sensation in physical nature is 
suggestive of the fineness of impressibility which 
may be cultivated in the moral nature. Persons 
who have not trained themselves to see, miss many 
forms and many colors of beauty which delight the 
mind of the man whose eyes have been trained to see. 
Earth and sky glow with beauty to him whose eyes 
have been opened ; all nature sings to him whose 
ears, according to the fine Hebrew idiom, have been 
uncovered. 

The prophets and Jesus are absolutely correct 
when they speak of men whose eyes have grown 
dim that they cannot see, whose ears have grown 
4uU that they cannot hear, and whose hearts have. 



192 The Secret of Successful Life 

grown gross that they cannot know. So the su- 
premely sad fact remains that men who are dying 
in their spiritual nature, may be unconscious of that 
fact. They only know that what some persons say 
they see and feel, seems unreal to them; and that 
things which others speak of knowing, are to them 
unknown. But they feel no loss, for sensibility is 
either latent or dead. The whole upper sphere of 
life may become an unknown world to men who 
live in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the world, 
and in the pride of life. They only know that they 
care nothing for those things which others love and 
praise ; that those things seem to them unreal. Some 
Christian people who live in the enjoyment of faith 
in God and in communion with the Spirit, and who 
delight in things divine, suppose that all other per- 
sons equally may enjoy the things which they enjoy 
and that, if they do not enjoy them, they should 
know what they miss. But, in reality, things are 
not missed when men become so blind that they can- 
not see them and so gross that they cannot know 
them. A man with no appreciation of music and 
with no love for music, does not know what he has 
missed, nor mourn his loss; but it is loss. 

When God speaks of withdrawing from men and 
of withholding His Spirit, He is simply expressing 
what takes place, practically, when men refuse to 
receive the grace which is offered them, and so lose 
the power to receive it. There comes a time when a 
grain of corn cannot be quickened by sunlight, a 
time when an egg cannot become a bird, a time when 
an embryo cannot become an animal. There is also 



Neglect 193 

a time when a body which has asphyxia cannot re- 
ceive air, cannot be charged again with life, cannot 
partake of food. That body has passed beyond the 
limit of reception. Henceforth, it must be left to 
the action of forces which dissipate and destroy it. 

This seems to be the condition of some souls. 
They cannot be touched by sermon, by song, by 
gospel story, by the presence of a holy life, or by the 
touch of tender and yearning love. They are dead 
so far as spiritual things are concerned. We do not 
like to think that this is so, but we know that there 
are those on whom Christian truth and love and life 
make no impression. The sacred scriptures pro- 
nounce such persons dead in sin. This is the su- 
preme danger to which men are exposed. There is 
need of all the warnings which may be given to lead 
men to see the danger of refusing to accept divine 
grace and to choose the means and the way of life. 
Would that all men could be made to see that 
danger lies primarily and chiefly in neglecting the 
things which are true and good and which make for 
life! 

It is neglect which Jesus emphasizes. In the 
teaching of Jesus, the man who neglected to put 
on the wedding garment was judged unworthy of 
the wedding feast; the man who neglected to put 
his talent with the bankers was deprived of that 
talent; the foolish virgins who neglected to take 
oil with their lamps were excluded from the bride- 
groom's house when the bridegroom came; Jeru- 
salem which neglected the day of her visitation, be- 
came a city for which there was left only lamenta- 



194 The Secret of Successful Life 

tion and tears; the men of Jesus* time were con- 
demned because they neglected to come to Him 
that they might have life. According to Jesus, con- 
demnation comes upon men because light has come, 
and they love darkness. The loss which is irrepar- 
able and final, is not because of original sin nor 
actual transgression, but because men will not hear 
and see and believe and so receive salvation. Men 
are not finally lost because they have been sinners, 
but because they have refused to be saved. This 
refusal, in most cases, takes the course of neglect. 
The majority of mankind are not now and, perhaps, 
never have been very bad in the sense of wickedness ; 
but many are indifferent to the things of the spirit. 
They live in the flesh; they love the world; they 
neglect the opportunities which God gives them; 
they refuse the call to the higher life; they belong 
to a temporal and transient order. The neglect of 
salvation is the crying sin of the world. 

Who can tell how much is lost out of the heart 
and life of the man who neglects salvation? To 
him, the heavens shine with sun by day and with 
stars by night; but they shine only to warm his 
fields and to guide his steps; they do not declare 
to him the glory of God who made them. To him, 
flowers bloom in brilliant beauty, and harvests wave 
in golden splendor; but no harvest ever speaks to 
his soul of the goodness of God who feeds men; 
and no bush burning in glowing colors ever declares 
to his soul a message from the invisible Spirit of life. 
Never with uncovered head does he bow before the 
heavens above, nor with unsandaled feet turn aside 



Neglect 195 

and wait before flower and field for a message from 
the divine. To him, prayer is an unknown tongue, 
or if he prays, it is in the spirit of the Pharisee of 
whom Jesus said, "He prayed with himself. " If 
petitions are ever on his lips, they are for something 
which God may give to him and never that he may 
learn and do the will of God. Prayer, to him, is a 
breath of selfishness wafted heavenward, and never 
the opening of his soul to the inspiring breath of 
God. 

To the man who neglects the higher life and who 
lives in the lower spheres of being, love is likewise 
self-centered and limited. The natural man loves 
himself, and he loves all other things embraced in 
his affections for himself. He loves for what the 
object of his love may bring to him. His parents 
are almoners of bounty. His wife is a source of 
delight. His children are means of personal pleas- 
ure, or means of perpetuating his plans, when his 
own power fails. His fellowmen are instruments of 
service. The love of a selfish man never outruns the 
limits of his own personality. His love is never lost 
in the life of another as a stream is lost in joining 
a river, or a river is lost in the sea. The center and 
the circumference of love are in the man himself. 
The love of Christ never constrains such a man. 
He is never lost and carried onward by that great, 
warm current of love which issues from the heart 
of God. The stream of his affections never bears 
him heavenward. 

The natural, psychical man neglects the means of 
salvation. Neglect of the means of rising, means 



196 The Secret of Successful Life 

falling. Neglect of the way of expansion, means 
contraction. Neglect of the means of growth, means 
atrophy and decay. Neglect of the way of life, 
means death. He who has eyes to see, may read 
this law written on every hand. This law is writ- 
ten in the garden, in the field, in the forest, in the 
shop, in the school, and in the church. Neglect in 
the garden, means weeds; in the field, no harvest; 
in the forest, decay; in the shop, loss of skill; in 
the school, ignorance; in the church, spiritual de- 
cline and moral deterioration. He who sees this, 
easily may know that a man must awake, learn the 
truth of God, receive His grace, and do His will, 
if he would win life. 

The fact that salvation is of grace, no more de- 
prives man of freedom and opportunity than the fact 
of selection in nature deprives plant and animal of 
the means of growth. Selection means the survival 
of such plants and animals as fulfil the conditions 
of growth. In all education, save the education of 
the soul, the necessity of diligence is recognized. If 
children were left to follow their own natural in- 
clination, many never would go to school, or acquire 
knowledge and skill. Until a child is sufficiently 
developed to choose a course of training for himself 
and stick to it, parents compel discipline. Some 
compulsion in learning the things of the spirit would 
not harm a child. A grown man must choose for 
himself those means of information, inspiration, and 
growth which experience has proved to be helpful. 

Prayer, public worship, and sacred music; such 
familiarity with the New Testament as will saturate 



Neglect 197 

the mind with its truth and spirit; the habit of 
thinking of God and of relating Him in thought 
with the course of one's life; the companionship of 
devout persons ; voluntary choice day by day of 
such feelings and acts as are like the feelings and 
acts of Jesus; cultivation of a spirit of aspiration 
after better things; participation in movements 
which have for their purpose the moral and spiritual 
improvement of mankind, — all tend to cultivate a 
spiritual and religious character. The daily habit 
of reverence toward God, of thoughtfulness toward 
men, of a disposition to fulfill the labor of each day 
in the spirit of Jesus "who went about doing good," 
and consecration of the will to the service of God, — 
all tend to educate the character and to make it com- 
plete in holiness. The man who uses these means 
will not fail to receive power, to gain in faith and 
love, and to grow in grace until he becomes a perfect 
man in Christ. 

The wilful neglect of any of these means of good, 
will result in the loss of power of good. The 
neglect of all of them will result in the loss of the 
desire of goodness. Neglect of prayer is followed 
by f orgetf ulness of God ; neglect of public worship 
increases the spirit of self-indulgence; neglect of 
familiarity with the New Testament leaves the mind 
in the common habits of thought which pertain to a 
worldly life; neglect of cherishing voluntarily a 
Christian disposition is followed by a lax and morally 
weakened tone of mind ; neglect of participating in 
efforts to make the world better, leaves a soul grow- 
ing indifferent to the highest welfare of mankind 



198 The Secret of Successful Life 

and increasingly self-seeking and worldly. The 
heart in which love does not glow, will become a 
heart chilled into lovelessness. 

Demas deserted Saint Paul because he loved this 
present world. Any man who falls away from the 
worship of God and from conscious work for Him, 
if he will candidly trace his course, will probably 
note the fact that his departure began in some 
neglect. Some duty neglected, left him more 
inclined to place self first in his own affections; 
some means of grace neglected left him more self- 
indulgent; some failure to coooperate in carrying 
on the kingdom of God, made more easy over him 
the domination of the world ; the neglect of the 
things of the spirit, let him sink gradually into sub- 
jection to the things of the flesh. Neglect of good 
submerges a man in the kingdom of evil. And the 
man who never has risen, if he could discover the 
cause of his decline to lower and lower moral states, 
would discover the source of his fall in a prior re- 
fusal to rise. 

The greater part of the things for which men 
to-day neglect the cultivation of the soul, are not 
bad in themselves. Some of them are good. But 
for sake of what is relatively good, men may lose 
what is better; and for things good, men may lose 
things which are best. For example, physical ex- 
ercise and the joy of motion in space are in them- 
selves good, if not carried to the point of dissipa- 
tion ; but they minister mainly to the body, and but 
incidentally to the mind ; they have no ministry for 
the soul. The pleasure of entertainment whether 



Neglect 199 

by pictures, plays, or social fellowship may be inno- 
cent in themselves; but they serve merely to divert 
from serious thought and toil ; they lead for a time 
to forgetfulness of the things which make life a bur- 
den ; they give a certain relaxation and relief, and 
so far forth are good ; but they add no solid gain 
to a man's powers. Mere rest, whether of body or 
of mind, may renew, but cannot increase strength. 
Inspiration increases strength. 

The strength of a man is primarily in his soul. 
Faith, love, aspiration, and hope are real power. Let a 
man compare his strength when hopeless with his 
strength when some great hope fills his soul. Let 
a man compare his strength when he is in doubt, or 
in fear, with his strength when some great faith 
possesses him. Let a man compare his strength 
when he feels unloved, or when he is without love, 
with his strength when he is conscious of being de- 
votedly loved, or when he ardently loves some one 
for whom he would even die; and he will know 
the power of love to make strong. The hope of fu- 
ture good, though that good can be obtained only by 
self-denial and hard toil, makes a man strong in 
courage, fortitude, and patience. These are facts 
which any man may verify in his own experience. 

Now the faith, hope, and love which Christianity 
gives to a believing man have power beyond any 
thing else to hearten, comfort, sustain, and cheer the 
souls of men. These give true success in life. "Hast 
thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the ever- 
lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of 
the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? He giv- 



200 The Secret of Successful Life 

eth power to the faint; and to them who have no 
might He increaseth strength. Even the youths 
shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall 
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord 
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up 
with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be 
weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. ,, 

Men may endure much hardship because they 
cannot escape it; but only a believing man can 
write, "We glory in tribulations." A Christian 
man can write thus, because he can also write, "We 
faint not ; though our outward man perish, yet the 
inward man is renewed day by day. For our light 
affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; 
while we look not at the things which are seen, but 
at the things which are not seen: for the things 
which are seen are temporal; but the things which 
are not seen are eternal." 

This is a matter of personal experience. One 
may test the truth of it here and now. The charac- 
ter and works of them who truly believe, testify to 
its reality. Any man may prove it for himself. 

The sad thing in life to-day, and life's greatest 
tragedy, lies in the fact that for sake of things which 
in relation to the bodies of men are good, many neg- 
lect the higher things which minister to the spirit 
and which are best. They drink only at earthly 
fountains. They eat only bread which springs from 
the ground. They wait only on the ministry of men 
for amusement and for rest. They enjoy only the 
things which are from beneath. What will it profit 



Neglect 201 

them if they gain the whole world and, by neglect, 
lose their own life? When physical energy wanes, 
when mental vigor declines, when the things which 
feed the body fail, when men can no longer enter- 
tain or amuse or instruct ; what remains to sustain 
life? It stands written and men should read and 
heed, "The world passeth away, and the lust there- 
of: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for- 
ever." 



CHAPTER XII 

Eternal Life 

T F a man die, shall he live?" is an ancient ques- 
A tion. If a man die should he live? is a modern 
question-. Scientific biology has disclosed the fact 
that all life in this world is conditioned. The law 
of the survival of the fittest has declared the fact 
that only a living being which fulfils the conditions 
of growth and perfection is deemed, by nature, 
worthy of continuance. These facts suggest two 
questions. The first is this, Is man an exception to 
this law of biology? The second is this, Is eternal 
life, irrespective of the character and condition of 
that which lives, a boon to be desired? 

In an attempt to answer such questions, a man 
who feels the limitations of his vision and of his 
knowledge, must speak with becoming modesty. 
Nevertheless, the man who has the spirit of a seer 
and who looks upon the world with open eyes, must 
report what he sees; and the man who has the 
mind of a disciple and who listens with open ears to 
the words of Jesus, must report what he hears. 

The seer who with open eye, clear vision, and 
keen insight looks upon the world of animate things, 
must see that every living thing, physical, mental, 
spiritual, which does not fulfill the conditions of 
growth, development, and perfection, degenerates, 
decays, and dies ; that which fulfils the conditions of 

202 



Eternal Life 203 



growth, development, and perfection, of its kind, 
continues to live to the full limit of its possible dur- 
ation. We may say, in the world of nature, the liv- 
ing thing which believes — that is, receives — feeds — 
that is, appropriates — and works — that is, exerts its 
powers normally — lives ; and that which does not re- 
ceive, feed, and work — dies. This is the law of 
nature. Nature is the expression of the mind and 
will of God. 

The disciple, who listens to the words of Jesus, 
must hear him say, "I came that they may have life, 
and may have it abundantly/' "I am bread of 
life." "He that believeth hath eternal life." "He 
that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent 
Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judg- 
ment, but hath passed out of death into life." 

Obviously, also, as specifically stated in the New 
Testament, "He that believeth not hath been judged 
already." He is under condemnation. He remains 
in a state and under a law whose issue is death. 
"Sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 

According to Jesus, eternal life is first of all a 
kind and quality of life which may exist here and 
now. It is a present possession. It is a life which, 
by faith, feeds upon God ; which, by love, fulfills 
the will of God ; which glows, in beauty, with a cer- 
tain divine glory. It is a life, therefore, which has 
the quality of continuance, and which deserves im- 
mortality. 

To the disciple, the words of Jesus are a final 
authority. Jesus surprised and startled men by 
His use of paradox. What He said seemed to con- 



204 The Secret of Successful Life 

tradict what they saw. What He promised, seemed 
to them opposed to their experience. 

For example, their Proverbs which garnered the 
practical knowledge of the ages, taught that if a 
man honors the Lord, his barns shall be filled with 
plenty and his presses shall overflow with new wine. 
But Jesus lifted up his eyes, looked upon men and 
said, "Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the king- 
dom of God." Jesus said, "A man's life consisteth 
not in the abundance of the things which he pos- 
sesseth." Men had been taught to have special re- 
gard to the means of securing prosperity, and so 
saving their life. Jesus said, "Whosoever will save 
his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his 
life for my sake, shall find it." Jesus said that 
not outward possessions but inward state, decided a 
man's security and determined his destiny. 

Jesus saw only two great passions and principles 
of character and conduct. These are selfishness and 
love. According to the teachings of Jesus, all sins 
are rooted in the former; all righteousness springs 
from the latter. According to Jesus, selfishness seeks 
to gather abundance for self. It fails to see that life is 
more than meat and more than raiment. Selfishness 
separates a man from God. If selfishness acknowl- 
edges God at all, it desires Him only as a servant 
who may minister things for the increase of wealth 
and grant pleasures for personal enjoyment. Selfish- 
ness separates a man from other men. Selfishness 
causes a man to make use of other men only for his 
own pleasure and profit. Selfishness means separa- 
tion, for it withdraws a man from God. Selfishness 



Eternal Life 205 



means starvation, for a man cannot live upon things. 
Selfishness means strangulation, for a soul may be 
smothered by the abundance of the things which 
have been gathered. Therefore, Jesus asks the 
pertinent question: "What shall a man be profited, 
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his life?" 

According to Jesus, love is self-forgetful, self- 
denying, and serviceable. Love, therefore, is the 
one passion and the one principle by which Jesus 
is sure that men belong to His kingdom. Jesus jus- 
tified His forgiveness and reception of a sinful wo- 
man "because she loved much." Faith, Jesus said, 
saved her; but love was the evidence of that faith. 
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my 
words: and My Father will love him." Jesus says 
that in the final judgment of men, He will welcome 
into His kingdom all who have shown a heart of 
love by their gifts of bread, clothing, visitation, and 
ministry. According to Jesus, sinners are forgiven, 
saints are trusted, and men are eternally rewarded 
on the basis of love. 

No life, therefore, seems to Jesus to be a success, 
whatever may be the place and the wealth and the 
pleasure which it has gained, if in gaining those 
things, love has been strangled or smothered or lost. 
What will the things gained profit, if the life is 
lost? It stands written in nature, in human life, 
and in the sacred scriptures, "He that loveth not 
abideth in death." It stands also written, "He that 
abideth in love, abideth in God, and God abideth 
in him." That is to say, the loveless man lives in 
the sphere of things which are transient and which 



206 The Secret of Successful Life 

pass away. The loving man lives in the sphere of 
things eternal, which endure. 

"The wages" — the natural reward — "of sin is 
death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in 
Jesus Christ our Lord." 

Nothing could be more simple, direct, and intel- 
ligible than the teaching of Jesus and His disciples 
with respect to the consequences of unbelief and 
faith, selfishness and love, sin and righteousness. The 
end, in the one case, is death; the end in the other 
case, is life. No words and no facts are more sharp- 
ly contrasted and more easily understood than death 
and life. 

The Christian church, as an organization, long 
since departed from the teaching of Jesus. The 
church long since adopted a human philosophy of 
the nature of man, and claimed for man immortality 
by virtue of his being man. Happiness and misery, 
pleasure and pain, triumph in glory, and torture in 
fire, have been taught by the church as the reward 
of righteousness, on the one hand, and, on the other, 
as the penalty of sin. Some portions of the church 
latterly have turned the fire to a figure, but to a 
figure not of cleansing or of destruction — the two 
things which fire will do — but to a figure of tor- 
ture. Some portions of the church now are simply 
silent on the subject. 

An opinion which has been held by a large 
body of men and current for many years, should 
be treated with respect and deemed worthy of 
candid consideration. An opinion long prevalent 
should not be rejected without sufficient reason. 



Eternal Life 207 



An opinion, however, let it be remembered, often 
has been formed by unobservant and unscientific 
men, and, once formed, has been held because it is 
an accepted opinion. An opinion, also, sometimes 
has been accepted because of the authority of some 
great man who has endorsed it. But the several 
opinions of a great man are not all equally worthy 
of credence. For example, for a thousand years or 
more, the name of Augustine gave authority to any- 
thing which he taught, although — great thinker 
though he was — some of his teachings set in the light 
of modern scientific knowledge are altogether false. 
An opinion often is held because it has been instilled 
into the mind in childhood and is retained without 
investigation and without evidence. This has been 
true of doctrines of the church, the questioning of 
which has been regarded in some quarters as denial 
of truth itself. I have known ministers to affirm 
that they would continue to teach what is most ob- 
viously false, because they had been taught it and 
had themselves taught it. This illustrates the habit 
of an unscientific and unthinking mind. Such a 
mind is parrot-like, repeating what it has been told. 
I have great respect for the Christian ministry; 
but, in candor, I must say that it contains some 
minds like this. 

An opinion which has come to be accepted by the 
majority of men in any country, is held without 
question by most persons; for most persons, do not 
think. For example, the Ptolemaic theory of the 
solar system was long current and concurred with 
the superficial observation of men who did not 



208 The Secret of Successful Life 

think, but that theory was entirely false. Men long 
held the opinion that the earth and the heavens were 
created in six days of twenty-four hours each, be- 
cause the writer of tho book of Genesis, in giving 
a pictorial account of creation, described it as made 
in six days. It is known, now, that this account 
of creation is not a scientific treatise and that the 
earth was produced by a long process. 

In an old bible in the Congressional Library in 
Washington, I saw a picture of the creation of Eve 
which was drawn according to the ideas of the 
artist. The Creator was shaping Eve, mechanic- 
ally, as a sculptor might mold in clay, and drawing 
the body gradually from the side of Adam. For a 
long time, the creation of man was considered a me- 
chanical formation of the human body, which being 
formed was, then, infused with life. Men who be- 
lieved this, neither saw nor thought scientifically, or 
they would have seen and would have known that 
God is continually making bodies, and that no body 
of any living thing, from the daintiest flower to the 
largest tree, from the tiniest insect to the most per- 
fect man, is ever made save by a force of life which 
in seed or germ weaves and fashions every part 
from within. 

The habit of mind which prevailed in the world 
until late years was not scientific. Men, generally, 
did not look patiently upon actual processes and 
did not form opinions slowly from the data of facts. 
Most men accepted things as they seemed to be 
on first view. Men were superficial in matters of 
physical science, and superstitious in matters of re- 



Eternal Life 209 



ligion. Men read the letter of the scriptures, and 
often failed to perceive the spirit. Hence, the 
theory that the sun revolves around the earth was 
accepted because it looked that way. The theory 
that physical death is the penalty of sin was held, be- 
cause the scriptures say that Adam was told that if 
he ate forbidden fruit, he would die. With such 
a habit of mind, opinions were accepted and held, 
which with the habit of* tracing consequences 
to their cause and in the clear light of 
scientific knowledge, cannot be believed. Mod- 
ern men, while retaining faith in the spirit of much 
ancient doctrine, must reject its letter. The mod- 
ern man unavoidably asks, "What is God actually 
doing in the world?" He also asks, "What do the 
scriptures which speak for God say and mean?" 

The natural immortality of man has been taught 
in the church since the third and fourth centuries 
of the Christian era. At that time, men who had 
been educated in Greek philosophy and trained in 
Roman law, became the leaders of Christian 
thought. Many facts of life were quietly ignored. 
The scriptures were interpreted by men who ap- 
proached them by a preconceived philosophy of the 
nature of man. The terms, life and death, than 
which no two words could be of plainer meaning 
and no two states more vividly contrasted, were 
interpreted as merely figurative modes of expression 
and, in respect of the soul, spiritual states. Their 
teaching came at length to be the common opinion 
of the church. The truth of that opinion may well 
be questioned at the present time. It is certainly 



210 The Secret of Successful Life 

well to observe what science sees and to listen to 
what the scriptures say. 

Scientific men who study man as an animal of 
the order mammalia, do not find in his natural con- 
stitution evidence of immortality. The feeling that 
one canot die, of which some speak, if examined 
closely, will be seen to be simply the feeling which 
a living creature when full of life has, namely, a 
sense of living. The living thing when full of its 
natural power, cannot conceive of itself as dead. But 
when physical and mental strength both are fast 
ebbing away, one can conceive of himself as dying. 
Any argument for the natural immortality of man 
— as man — from the unity of his life and the indis- 
solubility of his soul, could be used with equal pro- 
priety to prove the natural immortality of any ani- 
mal with power of affection, memory, and volition. 

Certain philosophers, also, who have studied man 
in his mental and moral nature, confess that by 
virtue of his failure to conform to the conditions 
by which souls live or to set himself in right rela- 
tion to society, man may die. Immanuel Kant says, 
"The soul may cease to be by inanition, " by fading 
out as the flame of a lamp fades from want of oil. 
A later philosopher, Hermann Lotze, says, "In- 
destructibility would include, not merely immor- 
tality after death, but also unending pre-existence 
before the present life; and with the latter, we 
neither know how to make a beginning, nor do we 
find in our experience any evidence for such a pre- 
vious life." Lotze also says, "Touching immortal- 
ity, in general we simply hold the principle to be 



Eternal Life 211 



valid that everything which has once originated will 
endure forever, as soon as it possesses an unalterable 
value for the coherent system of the world ; but it 
will, as a matter of course, in turn cease to be, if 
this is not the case." The immortality of any crea- 
ture cannot be considered simply by seeing that crea- 
ture in itself, but in seeing it in its relation to a sys- 
tem and a universe of which it is a part. 

Scientific men and philosophers who see clearly 
the limitations of development and of continuance 
on the physical side, and who see also the unmeas- 
ured possibilities on the moral side, conclude that 
any further gain to be made in the animal creation, 
must be along moral lines. They admit the need of 
immortality to complete what seems to be, now, 
great incompleteness both on the part of the individ- 
ual and on the part of human society. Certain 
scientists, like Sir Oliver Lodge and others, hope 
to be able through psychical research to find proof 
of the immortality of the soul. With them, how- 
ever, as with all men, belief in immortality must be 
a matter of faith and hope. 

If we turn to the sacred scriptures which record 
the revelation of the character of God and of his 
will respecting man and which record, also, the life 
and resurrection of one called the Son of Man, who 
conquered death and who brought life and immortal- 
ity to light; certain facts appear to him who will 
see. 

The first fact which appears in the scriptures is, 
that touching immortality, most of the books of the 
Old Testament are silent. In the account of the 



212 The Secret of Successful Life 

creation of man given in Genesis, it is said, God 
breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life (He- 
brew lives) and man became a living soul. Ac- 
cording to this ancient account of creation, man's 
life, like all life, was conditioned. Two trees grew 
in man's garden. The fruit of one tree was the 
symbol of life. The fruit of the other tree was the 
symbol of death. Man was given the choice of the 
way of life or of the way of death. He had access 
to both trees and power to eat the fruit of them; 
but he was forbidden to eat the fruit of one tree 
through which would come knowledge of good 
and evil. Obedience or disobedience was left to his 
own free choice. Man could follow the way of 
faith or the way of unbelief, the way of obedience 
or the way of disobedience; he could go up or fall 
down; he could live or he could die. Life and 
death were possibilities. 

The death threatened was more than physical 
death. Physical death was in the world before the 
advent of man. Physical death is part of the order 
of nature and not the penalty of sin. In a world 
where animals propagate rapidly, as on the earth, 
death is a necessary part of the order, or life could 
not be sustained. The physical constitution of man 
in all his organs and in the injuries and diseases to 
which he is exposed, is precisely the same as the con- 
stitution of the higher animals. If they naturally 
die, so must man — as man — die. What is threat- 
ened as the penalty of unbelief and disobedi- 
ence is a second death. "In the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die." The Hebrew words 



Eternal Life 213 



are more suggestive of the truth. Literally, these 
are, "Dying thou shalt die." Disobedience would 
be followed by a process of decline which would is- 
sue in death. The death threatened is greater than 
physical death. "Thou shalt die." The matter is 
left with this simple but significant statement. The 
story of the temptation and fall of man is the most 
suggestive of possible immortality of anything found 
in the earlier part of the Old Testament. 

The promises of the laws of Moses and of the 
Levitical code relate to the present world. Obedi- 
ence to the law would issue in health, prosperity, 
and long life. Disobedience to the law would 
issue in disease, adversity, and premature death. 
The law knew nothing of future rewards and pun- 
ishments. The horizon of the earthly life was the 
boundary of knowledge. 

In the historical portion of the Old Testament, 
the man who died, slept with his fathers ; if fortun- 
ate, he was buried in the sepulcher of his fathers. 
Dust slept with kindred dust, and no light was cast 
beyond the grave. 

In the poetical and prophetical books of the Old 
Testament, a few brief passages express a hope of 
immortality. In the book of Job, in the nineteenth 
chapter, Job expresses his hope by saying, "I know 
that my Redeemer liveth, and will stand upon the 
earth, and after my skin is destroyed, then without 
my flesh shall I see God." In the sixteenth psalm, 
the tenth verse, the psalmist voices his hope in the 
saying, "Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; 
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corrup- 



214 The Secret of Successful Life 

tion. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy 
presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there 
are pleasures forevermore." In the book of Daniel, 
the twelfth chapter, it is written: "And many of 
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt. " 

There is also a suggestive passage in the last book 
of the Old Testament. In the fourth chapter of 
Malachi, there is a striking indication of the final 
difference to be made between the righteous and the 
wicked. A day will come in which there will be 
discernment "between the righteous and the wicked, 
between him that serveth God and him that serveth 
Him not." To the former, that day will be like 
the light of the sun, healing, and life-giving. To 
the latter it will be "as a furnace of fire" which will 
consume them as stubble, and, like worthless trees, 
burning them up "root and branch." This is prac- 
tically all the light cast by the Old Testament upon 
the future of man. 

The second fact to be noticed is that the teachings 
of the New Testament on the subject of immortality 
are clear, quite consistent, concise and conclusive. 
By the time of Jesus the Jews held a clearer concep- 
tion and a firmer faith in a future life than had been 
held in an earlier period. Jesus, as was His wont, 
cast His teachings in language and in literary form 
which would be intelligible to the men of His times. 
Their conceptions and their figures of speech gave 
form and color to the teachings of Jesus, but the es- 
sence of the teaching was His own. The teaching 



Eternal Life 215 



of Jesus as we shall see, is explicit. 

There are four great facts touching immortality 
stated in the New Testament. The first fact is 
this: "God only hath immortality." (I. Timothy 
6:16). The entire passage shows that the affirma- 
tion is made of God the Father who alone hath 
immortality. He is the eternal and self-existent 
One, the Possessor and the Giver of life. 

The second fact is this: "As the Father hath 
life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also 
to have life in Himself. " (John 5 :26). It should 
be noticed here that even in the case of the Son, life 
is the gift of the Father. 

The third fact is this : God having given life to 
the Son, has made that Son to be the giver of life to 
men. This Jesus clearly affirms. "For as the 
Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even 
so the Son also giveth life to whom He will." 
(John 5:21). Jesus says of Himself: "I am the 
life." "I came that they may have life." "I am 
the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on 
me though he die, yet shall he live." In the six- 
teenth verse of the third chapter of the gospel by 
John is found that greatest of all gospel declara- 
tions: "God so loved the world, that He gave His 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." It should 
be noted that the contrast here is between perishing 
and eternal life. 

The fourth fact is this: eternal life is not the 
natural possession of man, but the gracious gift of 
God. In the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Ro- 



216 The Secret of Successful Life 

mans, ft is said : "The wages of sin is death ; but 
the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ 
our Lord." Here the contrast is between opsonia, 
wages, a merited or natural consequence and re- 
ward, and charisma, a gift of grace, free and un- 
merited. 

Could anything be more plain than these four 
statements? "God only hath immortality." "God 
hath given to the Son to have life in himself." 
"God so loved the world that He gave His Son that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have eternal life." "The wages" — the natural re- 
sult — "of sin is death; but the free gift of God is 
eternal life." 

It should be noticed that the teachings of Jesus 
and the apostles are along this line always. Jesus 
claims for Himself that He is "life," and "living 
bread," and the giver of "living water," and "the 
resurrection and the life," in whom, if a' man be- 
lieves, he shall live forever. In vain would we 
search through the words of Jesus to find any pas- 
sage where He teaches that He came to deliver men 
from misery and confer upon them happiness. Sin 
and death are the things from which Jesus saves 
men. Love and life are the things for which He 
saves them. 

The apostles teach the same truth. In the con- 
clusion of the gospel according to John, it stands 
written: "These" (the things selected and placed 
in this book) "are written that ye may believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believ- 
ing ye may have life in His name." And in his 



Eternal Life 217 



first epistle John says, "And this is the record, that 
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in 
His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he 
that hath not the Son of God, hath not life." 

Saint Peter, likewise, in his first letter, gives 
thanks to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, hath 
begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance 
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by 
the power of God through faith unto salvation 
ready to be revealed in the last time." Evidently 
this hope of immortality was given to Peter in 
Christ. It was given him through the resurrection 
of Jesus. He did not hold this glorious hope as a 
man, but as a Christian man. 

Saint Paul, speaking of the divine economy em- 
bracing all dispensations says, "God, who will ren- 
der to every man according to his deeds," will give 
"to them who by patient continuance in well-doing 
seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal 
life." (Romans 2:6-7). This eternal life, accord- 
ing to Paul, is not the natural possession of men but 
is given as a result of their seeking it. Eternal 
life is a possibility; it may become an actuality by 
faith. Again, Saint Paul says, in speaking of the 
resurrection: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God. For this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and the mortal must put on immor- 
tality. So when this corruptible shall have put on 
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on 



218 The Secret of Successful Life 

immortality, then shall be brought to pass the say- 
ing, 'Death is swallowed up in victory/ " 

Why multiply passages? The words of Jesus 
and John and Peter and Paul are concise and con- 
clusive. Only a preconceived opinion of the na- 
ture of man which blinded the mind to the natural 
meaning of the words of scripture and which forced 
a figurative meaning upon the plainest of words 
could have kept the church in ignorance of the truth. 
As light is colored by the glass through which it 
streams taking the colors of the windows of a cathe- 
dral which it floods, so divine truth is affected by 
the preconceived opinions of minds into which it en- 
ters. But as minds become open and clear, truth 
is seen in its clear white light. Only unwilling- 
ness to see the truth can hold the minds of men to 
ancient falsehood. 

Jesus was accustomed to teach the people in para- 
bles. A parable is a picture or story wherein, by 
things known, men are given some knowledge of 
things hitherto unknown. A parable by its nature 
is designed especially for the instruction of un- 
spiritual men. Jesus says, "Here is something 
which you know. Now the kingdom of heaven is 
like this" A parable usually is intended to teach 
just one thing and should not be pressed beyond its 
natural meaning. It has been said that a parable 
and what it is intended to illustrate, are like two 
globes which touch only at one point. 

In the several parables recorded in the thirteenth 
chapter of the gospel of Matthew, there are two 
which reach to the final judgment of men. These 



Eternal Life 219 



are the parable of The Wheat and Tares and the 
parable of The Net and Fishes. In the harvest, 
wheat and tares are separated. Wheat is for the 
garner; tares are for the burning. Jesus says, "As, 
therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the 
fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The 
Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they 
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that 
offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast 
them into a furnace of fire. Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
of their Father." 

So likewise, when the net was brought to shore, 
the good fish were gathered into vessels, the bad 
were cast away. Jesus says, "So shall it be in the 
end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and 
sever the wicked from among the righteous, and 
shall cast them into the furnace of fire." Ob- 
viously, fire is not for torment but for destruction, 
and destruction is based on worthlessness. 

Four other parables of judgment are recorded in 
the gospels. In the parable of The Ten Virgins, 
the five foolish virgins who took no oil and who 
were late, were excluded from the marriage cele- 
bration. In the parable of The Talents, the man 
who wrapped his talent in a napkin and made no 
gain was deprived of his talent. In the parable 
of The Ten Pounds, likewise, the man who wrap- 
ped his pound in a napkin and gained nothing was 
deprived of his pound. In the parable of The Mar- 
riage which a king made for his son, the man with- 
out a wedding garment was cast out. There is one 



220 The Secret of Successful Life 

parable in action, namely, that of The Withered Fig 
Tree. The fig tree whose leaves gave promise of 
fruit but which bore no fruit, was withered. 

In the account of the judgment of the nations giv- 
en in the twenty-fifth chapter of the gospel by Mat- 
thew, Jesus says that from among the nations, He 
will welcome all who have lived lovingly and that 
He will condemn all who have lived selfishly and 
have rendered no service. The former He will 
welcome into His kingdom. The latter He will 
send away. "These shall go away into eternal pun- 
ishment ,, (literally into the eternal cutting off as 
branches pruned from a vine) ; "but the righteous 
into eternal life. ,, This is the common thought in 
the New Testament : the one class shall be cut from 
life ; the other class shall possess life. 

But one may say, do not the scriptures speak of 
the continuance of the souls of bad men after this life? 
Yes. But that continuance is prior to the consumma- 
tion of this world's history ; that is not the last state. 
A body continues after death, but it continues in a 
state of dissolution which decomposes it into its 
original elements until it is no longer a body. A 
depraved soul may continue after death but under 
laws which will destroy it. Jesus says to His dis- 
ciples: "Fear not them who kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who 
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, in 
gehenna" 

The parable of Dives and Lazarus may be re- 
ferred to as teaching future punishment in the form 
of pain. But that parable was spoken in language 



Eternal Life 221 



which would appeal to Pharisees of Jesus' time. It 
certainly teaches future punishment of selfishness 
and sin; but it does not reach out into times 
beyond the final judgment. It cannot be referred 
to as a proof of endless torment or of eternal life 
in sin. 

One may say, Do not the scriptures teach that the 
wicked will have their place in gehenna, in the fire 
belonging to that place ? Yes. But it will be well 
to know what gehenna meant in the days of Jesus. 
Gehenna is the Greek form of the words Gah Hin- 
nom. This, in Hebrew, was the valley of Hinnom. 
This was the narrow valley which skirted Jerusalem 
on the south. In that valley, in times of idolatry, 
idolatrous Israelites burned their children in the fire 
to Moloch. The valley, in later years, became the 
common lay-stall of the city where the dead bodies 
of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and every 
kind of filth was cast to waste away by natural 
decay, or, according to late authorities, to be con- 
sumed by fire. Decay, however, is simply slow com- 
bustion. 

Bodies were thrown into Gah Hinnom, not for 
purposes of punishment but for destruction. The 
Jews in the time of Jesus employed this place as a 
symbol of the place into which the wicked finally 
would be cast. Obviously, they could not regard 
this place as symbolizing pain, but as setting forth 
the idea of dissolution and dissipation into nothing- 
ness. Jesus took up this name in common use and 
employed it to designate the fate of the unbelieving 
and wicked. Surely the most natural meaning of 



222 The Secret of Successful Life 

such a name and such imagery is not torture but 
destruction. Jesus compares the wicked to tares, to 
fruitless branches, to things of utter worthlessness. 
The effect of fire depends on the substance on which 
it fastens. Fire purifies gold. Fire consumes tares. 
Jesus says the wicked are tares. 

In addition to the teachings found in the gospels 
and in the epistles which have been given in fullness, 
there is found in the book of Revelation a brief 
description of the judgment. The "dead great and 
small stand before the throne. ,, The books are 
opened. Another book is opened which is the book 
of life. "The dead are judged out of the things 
which are written in the books. ,, They are judged 
according to their works. "And the sea gave up 
the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave 
up the dead that were in them : and they were judged 
every man according to their works. And death and 
Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
second death, even the lake of fire. And if any 
was not found written in the book of life, he was 
cast into the lake of fire. ,, 

Dean Alford says in commenting on this passage: 
"Hades is death's follower and the receiver of his 
prey. The punishment of sin is inflicted on both, 
because both are the offspring and bound up with 
sin. This is the second death, the lake of fire. As 
there is a second and higher life, so there is also 
a second and deeper death. And as after that life 
there is no more death, so after that death there is 
no more life." 

Notice now in this final statement of the New 



Eternal Life 223 



Testament that not only they whose names are not 
written in the book of life and who therefore are 
worthless and wicked, but death itself and also 
Hades are all cast into the lake of fire, and so suffer 
destruction. Life alone, life holy and worthy, sur- 
vives and reigns. 

Pain as punishment holds very little place in the 
New Testament. Torture as a divine delight has 
no place whatever. That teaching was introduced 
into the Christian church from pagan sources. This 
I shall show later. The god of the doctrine of 
eternal torture was Moloch and his kind, and not the 
God and Father of Jesus the Christ. 

I already have stated that a change came into 
the teaching of the church when men, controlled in 
their thinking by Greek philosophy and by Roman 
law with its imperial ideas, became the leading 
teachers of the church. I am not writing a history 
of Christian doctrine and must, therefore, refer the 
reader to treatises on that subject or to the writings 
of the church Fathers. However, for the benefit of 
such persons as may not be able to refer to original 
documents, I shall give a few quotations which will 
serve to show the earlier and the later teachings in 
the Christian church. The reader will mark that 
the earlier writers follow the simplicity of the New 
Testament and the later writers elaborate their 
philosophy of the nature of man and their theories of 
the physical and eternal character of punishment. 

In The Epistle of Barnabas whose date is about 
the year 100 A. D., we read as follows: "Thou 
shalt be simple in heart and rich in spirit. Thou 



224 The Secret of Successful Life 

shalt not join thyself to those who walk in the way 
of death. The way of darkness is crooked; for it 
is the way of eternal death. " Again, we read : "He 
who keepeth these, " (the judgments of the Lord), 
"shall be glorified in the kingdom of God; but he 
who chooseth other things shall be destroyed with 
his works." 

Theophilus of Antioch, who belonged to the first 
half of the second century, writing of the nature 
of man says: "But some one will say to us, Was 
man by nature mortal? Certainly not. Was he, 
then, immortal? Neither do we affirm this. He 
was by nautre neither mortal nor immortal, but ca- 
pable of both. If he should incline to the things of 
immortality, keeping the commandment of God, he 
should receive as reward from Him, immortality. 
But if, on the other hand, he should turn to the 
things of death, disobeying God, he should him- 
self be the cause of death to himself." Such is the 
tenor of the teaching of the men who immediately 
succeeded the apostles. 

In the third and fourth centuries, though some 
writers follow the earlier simplicity, a change ap- 
pears. Tertullian, who wrote about the beginning 
of the third century, speaking of final rewards says: 
"After the resurrection, the servants of God are for- 
ever with God, and clothed upon with the proper 
substance of eternity; but the profane and all who 
are not true worshipers of God, in like manner shall 
be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire." 
Tertullian, then, proceeds to argue that this fire, 
so far from destroying like ordinary fire, "from its 



Eternal Life 225 



very nature ministers to their incorruptibility." 
That is to say, it tends to make them indestructible. 
According to Tertulian, the wicked, like volcanoes 
which burn and last, will endure in flames for- 
ever. 

Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, 
lived in the latter part of the fourth and the early 
part of the fifth century. He was a man of great 
ability and of wide influence. He knew but little 
Greek and no Hebrew. He was a Latin writer domi- 
nated by the idea of Roman imperialism. He inter- 
preted the divine government after the analogy of 
imperial Rome. To him the kingdom of heaven 
was not ruled by biological laws but by laws like a 
political empire. Augustine laid supreme stress on 
law and authority and the sovereign and indepen- 
dent character of the ruling powers. His teachings 
gave direction to the theological thought which pre- 
vailed in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. 

Augustine, in his treatise on The City of God, 
one of his two greatest works, wrote as follows: 
"For to what but to felicity should men consecrate 
themselves were felicity a goddess? However, as 
it is not a goddess, but a gift of God, to what God 
but the Giver of happiness ought we to consecrate 
ourselves, who piously love eternal life, in which 
there is true and full felicity? For we mean by 
eternal life, that life where there is endlessness. For 
if the soul live in eternal punishments, by which 
also those unclean spirits shall be tormented, that 
is rather eternal death than eternal life. For there 
is no greater or worse death than when death never 



226 The Secret of Successful Life 

dies. But because the soul from its very nature, 
being created immortal, cannot be without some 
kind of life, its utmost death is alienation from the 
life of God in an eternity of punishment. So, then, 
He only who gives true happiness, gives eternal life, 
that is an endlessly happy life." 

The change from the simple teachings of the New 
Testament and of the Apostolic Fathers is here ap- 
parent. Almost all the terms in common use for 
fifteen hundred years are found in the writings of 
Augustine. The natural immortality of man, felic- 
ity as the hope of the human heart, happiness and 
misery as the rewards of faith and of unbelief, a 
happy heaven and a hell of physical torment, a death 
which is simply alienation from God and literal 
fire consuming but not destroying, are all found 
in the writings of Augustine. 

Augustine argues that there are material bodies 
and animal bodies which can continue to exist in 
fire. He produces these arguments in order to 
prove the possibility of eternal physical torment. He 
rejects as untenable, the doctrine of those who 
consider fire as a figure of speech and who hold 
that the punishment of sin is "the anguish of a 
spirit repenting too late and fruitlessly." He makes 
mention of "Animals which live in the midst of 
flames, and worms which live in springs of hot 
water." 

He says: "If, therefore, the salamander lives 
in fire, as naturalists have recorded, and if certain 
famous mountains of Sicily have been continually 
on fire from the remotest antiquity until now, and 



Eternal Life 227 



yet remain entire, these are sufficiently convincing 
examples that everthing which burns is not con- 
sumed. As the soul too is a proof that not every- 
thing which can suffer pain, can also die." 

Again, he says: "It is absurd to suppose that 
either body or soul will escape pain in the future 
punishment, yet, for my own part, I find it easier 
to understand both" (that is the fire and the worm 
of which he has been speaking) "as referring to 
the body, than to suppose that neither does. I think 
that Scripture is silent regarding the spiritual pain 
of the damned, because, though not expressed, it 
is necessarily understood that in a body thus tor- 
mented, the soul also is tortured with a fruitless 
repentance." He further adds: "I have already 
sufficiently made out that animals can live in the 
fire, in burning without being consumed, in pain 
without dying, by a miracle of the most omnipotent 
Creator, to whom no one can deny that this is pos- 
sible, if he be not ignorant by whom has been 
made all that is wonderful in all nature." 

So enamoured is Augustine with material fire as 
the fitting means of torment that he suggests that 
even devils — who evidently puzzle him a little — 
may possibly have bodies. He says, "Perhaps, as 
learned men have thought, the devils have a kind 
of body made of that dense and humid air which we 
feel strikes us when the wind is blowing." But, if 
this is not the case, still devils can burn. He says: 
"Therefore, though the devils have no bodies, yet 
their spirits, that is, the devils themselves, shall be 
brought into thorough contact with the material 



228 The Secret of Successful Life 

fires to be tormented by them. That hell, which 
also is called a lake of fire and brimstone, will be 
material fire, and will torment the bodies of the 
damned, whether men or devils, the solid bodies of 
the one, aerial bodies of the other." 

The reader can easily judge for himself, from 
the above quotations, whether the doctrine of hell 
and of future punishment which was taught by the 
church during the Middle Ages and which was 
preached commonly since the Reformation until 
recent years came from the New Testament. A few 
facts are, historically, very plain. 

I. Torment is not emphasized in the New Tes- 
tament as the punishment of sin. 

II. Torment is emphasized in the teachings 
of much of the world apart from Christianity. 

III. The doctrine of eternal torment was in- 
troduced into the teaching of the Christian church 
by men whose minds had been filled with ideas of 
pagan philosophy and doctrine. 

To the student of religions, it is quite apparent 
that the doctrine of torment and descriptions in 
vivid colors of physical punishments are derived 
from pagan and not from original Christian sources. 
A few quotations will serve to illustrate this. 

Buddhist descriptions of the punishments of 
those in hell portray them as undergoing various 
forms of torture. "Some are among fabled moun- 
tains; some are upon the shores of a great sea; 
one place is a place of terrific darkness; another is 
a place of red-hot iron; another contains pits of 
burning charcoal; another is a dense forest whose 



Eternal Life 229 



leaves are sharp swords; another is a place paved 
with iron spikes." Everything is painted as vividly 
as in the hell of Dante. 

Homer who, doubtless, popularized the thought 
of his time among the Greeks, as Milton described 
the thought of his day, describes Tartarus as "A deep 
gulf beneath the earth, with iron portals and a 
brazen threshold, as far below Hades as heaven is 
from earth." 

The Northmen of Scandinavia believed that evil 
men should be banished from Valhalla, the palace of 
immortality where the souls of heroes dwell, "and 
that perjurers, murderers, and they who seduce 
men's wives shall wade through thick venom 
streams in Nastrond." 

Ximenes, in his Indian Chronicles, gives the des- 
criptions of hell which he found among the Ameri- 
can Indians. "Hell is a house of darkness; a house 
of unendurable cold ; a house of tigers which lacer- 
ate the inhabitants ; a house of bats which cry ter- 
ribly and fly wildly about; and finally a house of 
edges of knives." 

The above quotations from widely different 
sources seem to indicate a disposition on the part 
of primitive and unchristian men to ascribe the 
cruelty common to men to the character of 
God, and to conceive of punishment in terms of tor- 
ment. 

Certain influential writers of the early church, 
retaining apparently something of this primitive dis- 
position and controlled, in part, in their thinking by 
pagan thought, misinterpreted some expressions of 



230 The Secret of Successful Life 

the New Testament with respect to punishment, 
and misunderstood and misused the figure of fire 
which occurs in the parables and the teachings of 
Jesus. Some of these writers gave free scope and 
vivid expression to their imagination in portraying 
the punishment of sinners in the department of 
Hades known as Tartarus. 

Tertullian, a fierce and barbarous sort of Chris- 
tian, depicts "Illustrious monarchs, world's wise 
men, philosophers, and poets trembling before the 
judgment seat and burning in fires; tragedians, play 
actors and wrestlers dissolving in flame, glowing in 
fire, tossing in fiery billows for rejecting Christ and 
for sin." 

Hippolytus describes a place of unquenchable fire 
where the unrighteous and those who believe not 
God shall endure endless punishment. "No sleep 
will give them rest ; no night will soothe them ; no 
voice of interceding friends will profit them; but 
to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal pun- 
ishment." 

Lactantius says, "The wicked will again be 
clothed with flesh, yet it will not be flesh like this 
our earthly body, but indestructible and abiding for- 
ever that it may be able to hold out against tortures 
and everlasting fire." 

In later times, the paintings of artists such as ap- 
pear in pictures of the latter part of the Middle 
Ages and the poems of such great poets as Dante, 
in his Inferno and Milton in his Paradise Lost, 
added to the popular belief in the torments of the 
lost. So the doctrine of eternal torment as the pun- 



Eternal Life 231 



ishment of sin became incorporated in the theology 
and the teachings of the church. 

Pain does not hold the place in the punishment 
of sin in the New Testament, which it has held in 
historic theology. The New Testament clearly 
teaches that sin merits and will receive punish- 
ment. There are "many stripes" and "few stripes" 
inflicted according to knowledge and desert; men 
are "rewarded according to their works;" but these 
punishments belong rather to the discipline and 
training of life and precede the final consumma- 
tion. "There is a sin," says Jesus, "possible now 
which shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, 
nor in that which is to come." The time limit, 
when punishment shall no longer belong to the dis- 
ciplinary process of life, but shall become purely 
destructive, is not revealed to us. 

God and holiness, truth and love, will be no more 
attractive and lovable in any other world and 
state than now. It would be a mistake, and con- 
trary to the tenor of the scriptures, to imagine that 
the future holds better conditions and possibilities of 
salvation than the present. But, evidently, it is not 
the incident of physical death which may happen at 
any time and at any age, but the personal and per- 
manent choice of every soul which decides destiny. 
The ultimate end to the unbelieving and the wicked 
when the chastisements of God have failed to lead 
to repentance and the grace of God has failed to 
save, is death. Not pain but perdition is the end 
of sin. 

Torment does not honor and maintain the law, 



232 The Secret of Successful Life 

nor satisfy God, nor even by an exhibition of "jus- 
tice," cause the saints to "rejoice" and "excite them 
to joyful praises," as so late a theologian as Jonathan 
Edwards taught. 

It is the worthlessness more than the wickedness 
of selfish men which is emphasized in the New Tes- 
tament. The sinful are foolish, like the foolish 
virgins; they are slothful, like the man who wrap- 
ped his talent in a napkin; they are indifferent and 
obey not the gospel; they have no future worth, 
like fruitless branches and like tares; they are 
objects of divine condemnation; they are children of 
gehenna; they are sons of destruction. 

The punishments of sinners correspond to their 
characters and may be summed up under five heads. 
The punishment of sin is exclusion. The foolish 
virgins are excluded from the marriage celebration; 
sinners are excluded from heaven. The punish- 
ment of sin is privation. The talent of the sloth- 
ful man is taken from him; power and opportunity 
are taken away from the sinner. The punishment 
of sin is degradation. The man without a wedding 
garment is cast out from the feast; sinners without 
the character which divine grace offers, are cast out 
into darkness. The punishment of sins perdition. The 
wicked are like chaff, like fruitless branches, like 
tares, fit only to be burned. The final punishment 
of sin is said to be apoleia or perdition, olethros or 
destruction, a place in a lake of fire, a second death. 

Now as science does not discover, nor philosophy 
prove, nor revelation teach, the natural immortality 
of man, the very significant words and symbols of 



Eternal Life 233 



the New Testament must be interpreted in their 
ordinary and natural meaning, and we must accept 
as a very simple statement of fact the declaration 
of the New Testament, namely, that "the wages of 
sin is death." Death, like life, is a merciful pro- 
vision of infinite love. 

No more unscriptural and unworthy conception 
of punishment could have been devised than that 
which presents it as an act of wrath inflicted mainly 
to satisfy the injured feelings of an offended Deity. 
That is a conception of unregenerate and unchris- 
tian humanity unrelieved of its pagan character. I 
once heard a preacher of some popular power com- 
pare the result of punishment in the mind of God 
to the effect of punishment on the minds of men 
whose desire of vengeance has been satisfied by the 
violent execution of a murderer. The men have 
given expression to their feeling of anger and lust 
of vengeance, and so are satisfied. In like manner, 
said the preacher, God satisfies Himself by the pun- 
ishment of men. He added to this caricature by 
affirming that God could not pardon sin until He 
had satisfied Himself for vengeance by the literal 
punishment of His Son. That God will be satisfied 
in Himself with all His acts towards men, we may 
well believe. But the satisfaction of the God and 
Father of Jesus will not be the satisfaction of an 
irate father who has whipped an erring son, and 
has, thereby, relieved himself of his anger. The sat- 
isfaction of God will be that of a father who has 
suffered for his erring son, and who has done his 
best to reclaim him. The satisfaction of God will 



234 The Secret of Successful Life 

be that of a father who, if he leaves a wilful son to 
his fate, does so because, under the beneficent laws 
of life, it is inevitable and it is best. 

Punishments in nature are for two purposes, me- 
dicinal and surgical. Punishment first administered 
is medicinal and designed to save the sinner. Pun- 
ishment, when the sinner cannot be saved, is sur- 
gical and designed to save society. The first pun- 
ishments of sin, if heeded, are admonitory, salutary, 
and saving. Later punishments are destructive. 
This is clearly seen in the effects of physical vices. 
The first pains are admonitory and, if heeded, cor- 
rective. Where correction is refused, they become 
destructive. The vicious man is taken out of so- 
ciety. His removal is beneficent. 

Punishment on the part of wise and loving par- 
ents, is intended to save the child. Where the child 
will not be saved, that punishment which excludes 
him from home is intended to save that portion of 
the family which is, as yet, uncorrupted. 

It is worthy of note that as society moves farther 
away from those conceptions of government, law, 
and punishment which have descended from pagan 
times, and as it incorporates the teaching and the 
spirit of Jesus into civil legislation and the admin- 
istration of law, society loses the desire simply for 
vengeance, on the sinner and uses punishment, first, 
if possible, to save the offender, and, then, if that 
cannot be done, excludes the incorrigible offender 
from its presence to save society itself. The refor- 
matory for children ; the indeterminate sentence for 
criminals; the gift to a discharged prisoner of an 



Eternal Life 235 



opportunity to choose and to follow some useful 
career, all indicate the modern conception of pun- 
ishment. 

Human society, by its present practice, affirms its 
practical belief in conditional immortality within 
the limits of this present life. That the privilege 
of remaining in relation to human society as a free 
member of it is conditioned upon worthiness, is the 
practical belief of men nowadays. The man who 
will not accept the common customs of society and 
obey its laws is first punished as a means of restraint 
and of reform; and, when reform is impossible, he 
is excluded from society. This is, also, the prin- 
ciple of the divine government. 

All physical life in this world from the tiniest 
flower to the most perfect animal is conditioned. All 
physical development and the avoidance of death, de- 
pend on the fulfillment of the conditions of life. 
All mental and all moral growth are, likewise, con- 
ditioned. If the conditions are not fulfilled, there 
are degeneration and decay of mental and moral 
power. 

Conditional immortality is the doctrine that man 
is created capable of immortality. Man's posses- 
sion of immortality depends on his fulfilling the con- 
ditions. Men live under various circumstances of 
light, knowledge, and opportunity. Their attitude 
of mind and heart towards light, their desire of 
knowledge, or their lack of desire, their improve- 
ment or neglect of opportunity, are the important 
human elements. According to the New Testa- 
ment, eternal life is given to them who diligently 



236 The Secret of Successful Life 

seek it; eternal life is given to them who, having 
the light of nature only, the voice of conscience and 
the touch of the spirit of Jesus whom they have not 
known, live in love; eternal life is given to them 
who having the gospel, believe on the Son of God. 

Saint Paul expresses his thought of the condition 
of condemnation in his words to the Jews of An- 
tioch in Pisidia when he said: "It was necessary 
that the word of God should first be spoken to you : 
Seeing ye thrust it from you and judge yourselves 
unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gen- 
tiles." 

Jesus expresses the condition of commendation 
when He says, "Every one that doeth evil hateth 
the light, but he that doeth the truth cometh to the 
light. " Again Jesus says, "Every one that is of the 
truth, heareth my voice." In His account of His 
judgment of the nations, Jesus says that He will 
welcome all who live in love and so possess His 
spirit, though they have not known Him in person 
or by name. 

The truth-loving mind, the receptive soul, the lov- 
ing heart are the conditions in man, anywhere and 
in any age, of receiving the reward of eternal life. 

Conditional immortality differs from annihila- 
tion. Annihilation, strictly speaking, is an act of 
reducing to nothing. The word carries with it the 
idea of putting forth power to destroy. It conveys 
the conception of crushing out of existence some- 
thing which, let alone, would continue. Condi- 
tional immortality, on the contrary, conveys the idea 
of a life dying out of itself for want of the fulfill- 






Eternal Life 237 



ment of the conditions of continued living. It is 
like a flame fading and dying, because it fails to 
feed upon oil. It is, as Kant suggests, a soul dying 
from inanition. 

Three views, at present, are held respecting the 
final destiny of men. There is the common opinion 
that man is created immortal and his destiny is to 
live forever in happiness or in misery. There is the 
opinion that man is naturally immortal and, in 
some way, by the grace of God, all men will escape 
from sin and exist forever in felicity. There is the 
opinion that man is created capable of becoming 
immortal, and men will cease to be or live forever, 
according as they reject or receive the grace of God. 

With respect to the first view, ancient and wide- 
spread as it is, let me ask : Can any sane man suf- 
fering agony from toothache or neuralgia or acute 
indigestion or filled with unspeakable anguish in his 
soul, really believe that a man should and can and 
must exist forever in untold misery and unspeakable 
pain? The men who have preached this doctrine 
have had no vivid conception and realization of 
what it meant. It was a far-away suffering which 
they did not feel. A God who would create a 
being like man, place him in a world like this, give 
him a little span of three score and ten years and, 
then, for failure to live righteously during those 
years, would consign him to an eternity of unre- 
lieved torment, could not be worshipped. 

If a man like Jonathan Edwards, for instance, had 
not been under the domination of a system of belief 
in which man was simply a means of maintaining 



238 The Secret of Successful Life 

that system, and if he had observed his own chil- 
dren, known his own neighbors, and studied his own 
heart, eould never have preached some sermons 
which one must wish never had been printed. 

With respect to the second view, namely, that 
of universal salvation, personally, I should be only 
too glad to believe it true. But I cannot blind my 
eyes to the laws of life to which I have called atten- 
tion; I cannot refuse to see that Jesus in His para- 
bles and plain statements declares that the laws 
of the divine kingdom are biological laws ; I cannot 
remove the impression of the pictures which Jesus 
portrays, nor change the meaning of the words He 
uses in speaking of final things. 

One would think that a doctrine so full of hope 
as universalism would crowd the churches of those 
who preach it. But they are not crowded nor 
greatly multiplied. Much as men like myself might 
wish that it may be well hereafter with all men, the 
intellectual vision of men is too clear, the moral con- 
science of men is too keeri, and the evidence in the 
resultant facts of choice and conduct is too plain, 
for men to entertain the thought that faith and un- 
belief, love and selfishness, obedience to divine law 
and disobedience, will sometime issues in the same 
result. Ian Maclaren has said in a sermon on 
Judgment According to Type, "We have a robust 
common sense of morality which refuses to believe 
that it does not matter whether a man has lived like 
the Apostle Paul or the Emperor Nero." It is said, 
however, that the issue of well-being comes through 
repentance at some time. 



Eternal Life 23$ 



A single act of sin, like DavicTs adultery and its 
consequent crimes; or like Peter's denial of Jesus, 
may startle a soul and show its weakness and lead 
to that repentance which pens penitential psalms or, 
in darkness, weeps bitterly, and so may occasion 
the rebound of a virtually healthy soul from sin. 
But, while this is true, the plain fact remains shown 
on every hand that a course of sin wilfully chosen 
and followed naturally and inevitably dulls the 
conscience, darkens the moral vision, hardens the 
heart, and leads a soul in the way of death. The 
law of sin is not a law which works life but death 
rather. There are seemingly men now, such as 
Saint Paul speaks of, "Who are past feeling." And 
the scriptures plainly speak of a time, whatever may 
be the deciding cause, when it is too late to repent, a 
time when the day has gone and the night which 
will know no dawning, has come. 

With respect to the third view, that of condi- 
tional immortality, a few things may be said. It 
is in accordance with the laws of nature regulating 
all life in this world within the time limits of each 
kind of life. It is in harmony with the doctrine 
of the survival of the fittest. The fittest, in this 
case, is not the strongest in a militant way, but the 
best. It is that which has fulfilled the conditions of 
life and so is worthy to endure. It is in accord with 
the teachings of Jesus. Jesus does not compare the 
divine kingdom with an imperial kingdom, as Ro- 
man theology does, but with the biological king- 
dom of earth. All through nature, anything hav- 
ing life which fails to fulfill the conditions of living 



240 The Secret of Successful Life 

and to attain its fitting destiny, within the possible 
limit of time allotted it, decays and dies. Why 
should the life of highest potentiality, having the 
possibility of eternal existence, be an exception to 
this law ? One would think that failure here would 
be most offensive dto the Creator. One would think 
that, beyond anything else, such life should be sub- 
ject to the law of death. 

Why a man, who has been given by his Creator 
exceptional potential powers, great possibilities, and 
a chance of choosing the way of eternal life, but 
who refuses to choose that way and so becomes, at 
length, a being of no pleasure to himself, of no value 
to society, of no delight or use to God, should live 
forever, does not appear. 

Speaking for myself, I must say that I cannot 
feel nor think, whatever I may do and be, that I 
ever could be reconciled to any so-called divine jus- 
tice which would consign me to everlasting torment 
or to hopeless remorse and unavailing regret. But 
I could feel and think that having been given life 
and its possibilities ; if, in the judgment of the Crea- 
tor from whom life is derived and by whom it is 
sustained, I were of no value to the coherent sys- 
tem of the social and moral universe, I should cease 
to be. There would not appear to me any injustice 
in such a judgment. 

As to eternal torment, it should be noticed, that 
a man who, being injured in any way by another 
man, and who having power to do so, should take 
the man who injured him and imprison him and vol- 
untarily inflict on him daily torture for the sake of 



Eternal Life 241 



punishing by pain, and who should continue this so 
long as his enemy could possibly live, would be re- 
garded as an immoral monster. What would be 
immoral and unjust in man, cannot be moral and 
just in God. 

It may well be asked again, Why should any 
creature contiue to exist when he has failed of the 
ends of its creation? When it is no pleasure to 
itself? When it is of no value to others? When 
it is nothing but an offense to its Creator? By the 
most common laws of nature that a living thing 
which does not fulfill the conditions of its continu- 
ance, growth, and perfection, declines, decays and 
dies. Nay more, the very forces which build up a 
living thing, destroy a declining and dying thing. 
Sunlight, air, and showers feed a growing plant, 
but consume a decaying plant. A mind unexer- 
cised loses its powers of acquisition and expansion, 
and sinks to idiocy. A moral nature misused, loses 
moral discernment and affection. A wicked man 
who says in his heart, "There is no God," has be- 
come insensible to God and has lost connection, 
inwardly, with the source of life, Why should the 
touch of God, without, continue to preserve him? 
How can he continue to live? Why should he 
continue to live? 

"No, no, the energy of life may be 
Kept on after the grave, but not begun; 
And he who flagged not in the earthly strife, 
From strength to strength advancing — only he, 
His soul well-knit and all his battles won, 
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life." 



242 The Secret of Successful Life 

Mr. Charles Darwin, in closing his treatise on 
The Descent of Man, says: "For my own part, I 
would as soon be descended from that heroic little 
monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to 
save the life of his keeper ; or from that old baboon, 
who, descending from the mountains, carried away 
in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of as- 
tonished dogs — as from a savage who delights to 
torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, prac- 
tices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives 
like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the 
grossest superstitions. " 

In writing on the ascent of man, one may say: 
The dog, who, though hungry, will suffer rather 
than touch his master's dinner which he guards; 
who will loyally serve his master even when that 
master is unkind ; who will brave danger and fight 
and die in his master's defence, seems more loving, 
moral, and noble than the man who will allow his 
wife and children to suffer the pangs of hunger; 
who will treat with cruelty those who are kind to 
him; who will beat his children and permit them 
to die for want of attention that he may indulge 
himself through lusts in grossest vices. Why should 
such a man — because he has been made a man with 
a man's possibilities — continue to live forever, when 
he has sunk below the level of the monkey and the 
dog? Why should the latter die because they are 
animals, and the former live simply because he bears 
the form of a man? 

In fact, a man without love as the dominating 
motive in his life is like a sunbeam without heat, 






Eternal Life 243 



if he is simply moral. He is like a rose without 
fragrance, if he is simply physically clean. He is 
like grain which has rotted, if he is grossly de- 
praved. 

Again, I repeat the question, Why should a man, 
who in point of love and morals is worthless, who is 
of no pleasure to himself, who is of no use to oth- 
ers, who is no delight to God, continue to exist for- 
ever? For God to maintain such a life by the 
mere exercise of His power would be a misuse of 
power, for it is not a beneficent use. For God to 
force a sensitive, living creature to continue to live 
simply that He may suffer pain forever, would be 
an act of continued cruelty. Death, in such a case, 
is a merciful event, administered in loving kindness 
by infinite love. 

Eternal life, on the other hand, is the greatest 
gift of divine grace, the reward of faith, the pos- 
session of love. Three terms are used to express 
the idea of eternal life. These are incorruptibility, 
immortality, and eternity. According to the New 
Testament those who believe "have been begotten 
of incorruptible seed"; they have "a living hope 
of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away" ; their present condition must 
be changed so that "this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortal- 
ity"; and "when this corruptible shall have put on 
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im- 
mortality ; then shall come to pass the saying that is 
written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory' "; then, 
they, who "by patience have sought for glory and 



244 The Secret of Successful Life 

honor and immortality, shall .have eternal life." 
These words: incorruption, immortality, and eter- 
nal in their various forms as nouns and as adjectives 
are the exact equivalents of the Greek words which 
they translate. A metal which cannot corrode, a 
vegetable fiber which cannot decay, a consciousness 
in thought which cannot cease, must be eternal. An 
incorruptible, immortal, and deathless man must 
live forever. 

Scientific students of human evolution and his- 
tory, recognize the fact that further development of 
mankind must be along moral lines. They also 
recognize the fact that a future life seems to be 
necessary to complete what is so imperfect and so 
broken here. Professor Henry Drummond has said, 
"One of the most startling achievements of recent 
science is a definition of eternal life." Herbert 
Spencer said, "Perfect correspondence would be per- 
fect life. Were there no changes in the environ- 
ment but such as the organism had adapted changes 
to meet, and were it never to fail in the efficiency 
with which it met them, there would be eternal 
existence and eternal knowledge." 

Charles Darwin writing on The Descent of Man 
concludes his book by saying: "Man may be ex- 
cused for feeling some pride at having risen, though 
not by his own exertions, to the very summit of the 
organic scale; and the fact of his having risen, in- 
stead of having been aboriginally placed there, may 
give him hopes for a still higher destiny in the dis- 
tant future." What that distant future may have 
embraced in Mr. Darwin's mind, I do not know; 



Eternal Life 245 



but even if, in his own thought, it had reference to 
the advance of the race, it is suggestive and serves 
to give hope of a still greater future. 

Science, however, which furnishes a definition 
of eternal life, does not inform us how to fulfil those 
conditions. Science which sometimes expresses a 
hope of a future life is not able to affirm it. Jesus 
Christ, alone, who abolished death, has brought life 
and immortality to light. Through Him, eternal 
life is the gift of God to man. As many as receive 
Him to them gives He the right to become children 
of God. The Son of God became the Son of Man 
and so, by virtue of the assumption of flesh, brother 
of men by incarnation. The sons of men become sons 
of God, by faith, and so brothers of Christ by 
regeneration. 

Jesus has said, "Whosoever shall do the will of 
God, the same is my brother and sister." Saint 
Paul has said, "As many as are led by the Spirit of 
God, these are sons of God." Saint John has said, 
"Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is 
not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know 
that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like 
Him; for we shall see Him even as He is." 

Eternal life is, then, first of all, a kind and qual- 
ity and grade of life. Its beginning is here; its 
completion is hereafter. Its character is now man- 
ifest; its consummation and its glory are yet to 
appear. Eternal life is a life of faith in God; it is 
a life of love for Christ; it is a life of communion 
with the ever-living Spirit. It is fed from unfailing 
sources. The eternal life lives because God lives. 



246 The Secret of Successful Life 

It loves because God loves. It is mericful because 
God is merciful. It blesses because God blesses. 
It is joyous because of the joy of God. It is un- 
failing because God is unfailing. "They who wait 
upon the Lord renew their strength. " They know 
that their strength has been renewed. The love 
of Christ constrains them who believe. It seizes 
them and bears them on its own gracious way as a 
river seizes and bears on its way the smaller streams 
which join it. The man in whom is eternal life 
comes to think as Jesus thinks, and to love as Jesus 
loves, and to do as Jesus does, and so grows into the 
likeness of Jesus. 

Christianity has suffered greatly in efficiency from 
the diversion of the minds of men from this great 
purpose of God in Christ. The church has taught 
the gospel as a plan of salvation rather than as a 
power of salvation. The church has conceived 
of salvation as the adjustment of legal relations be- 
tween God and men, rather than as the impartation 
and perfecting of a new life. The fact of the new 
life — it must be said in justice to the church — has 
not been denied nor wholly lost sight of, but it has 
been obscured. The result has been that men have 
thought of the gospel as a sort of scheme and plan 
of insurance — a condition, a covenant, a promise- 
by belief in which men may escape future punish- 
ment and secure entrance into heaven. But the 
gospel is the revelation and the publication of God's 
love to men, and the promise that he who believes 
may live in that love. It is fortunate that of late 
years, emphasis is placed upon Christianity as a life. 



Eternal Life 247 



It feeds indeed upon a creed, but it formulates itself 
in character and in deeds. 

Success in life comes from believing and appre- 
hending the great facts of the gospel where that 
gospel is known. Or success in life comes from 
accepting the inspiration of the living Spirit medi- 
ated through Christ who acts beyond the bounds of 
the published gospel. There is no other true and 
worthy success in life. 

A Christian is not exempt from the ordinary con- 
ditions which exist in the world; but a Christian 
who has in him eternal life, has something in him- 
self which transforms all things. A Christian has 
temptation; but he has a way of escape from temp- 
tation. To him temptation is an opportunity to 
rise rather than to fall. A Christian has trials; but 
he has gracious help which sustains him in trials, 
and through trials, he is made strong. None but 
a Christian can say, "We glory in tribulations." A 
Christian has sorrow, but he has also consolation. 
He sorrows not as the rest who have no hope. A 
Christian has disappointments, but he has an abiding 
hope of better things which God has provided. A 
Christian must die; but to him death has lost its 
sting and its victory. To be absent from the body, 
is to be present with the Lord; to lose this body, 
is to receive a better one; to depart from earth, is 
to dwell in heaven; to leave things temporal, is to 
enjoy things eternal. Therefore, if you would truly 
succeed in life, you must believe. 

Believe, and the sky will bend in beauty, and 
glow with glory above you now. Believe, and the 



248 The Secret of Successful Life 

truth and the promises of God will illumine your 
path and sustain your heart and strengthen your 
soul now. Believe, and you will be filled with 
peace and power, sanity and strength, sweetness and 
love, hope and joy now. You will have the eternal 
life. 

But eternal life will find its fulfillment and its 
fruition in the future, beyond the grave and beyond 
the present order. No one can read the words of 
Jesus to His disciples and not perceive that the 
future and not the present was the object of hope. 
No one can read the writings of the New Test- 
ament and not perceive that the emphasis of reward 
is laid not upon the present life but upon the future 
life. The consummation of the kingdom is not upon 
earth but in heaven. 

The parables of Jesus point to a consummation. 
Life is to be followed by a harvest time when good 
and evil will be separated. Life leads on to a day 
of reckoning when a report of stewardship and ser- 
vice will be made. Life is to be succeeded by shar- 
ing the victory and the reward, the blessedness and 
the glory of Him with whom the saints have suffer- 
ed. Saint Paul teaches that the distinctions between 
men made by position, possessions, and conditions 
are of little moment because they are so transient. 
Sufferings are short, afflictions for a moment, and 
possessions as though they were not in comparison 
with the power and the possessions and joys of 
eternity. The things which make this present life a 
time of trial and discipline, of suffering and sorrow 
will pass away. They will be replaced by a state 



Eternal Life 249 



in which pure love, perfect power, painless exercise, 
congenial persons, and wholly suitable and adjusted 
conditions will make living a delight. According 
to the revelation of the New Testament, all things 
which, at present, occasion pain and suffering and 
sorrow will be eliminated and only such things 
as occasion pleasure, peace, and joy will be found in 
the heavenly home. There, the mind will know all 
necessary truth. There, the heart will be satis- 
fied with love. There, all the powers possessed will 
find free exercise. There, the soul in all its great- 
ness will be satisfied. 

Who will compose the heavenly society? Will 
it be limited to them who have heard and believed 
the gospel? Surely not. Jesus has said: "Many 
shall come from the east and the west, and shall 
sit down with Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob in the 
kingdom of heaven. " The revelation of God's 
love in Christ does not create that love. The pub- 
lication of the method of salvation does not make 
the method. Sunlight floods many a valley before 
the sun himself appears over the eastern hills. Sun- 
light fills many a house from whose windows the 
sun is never seen. The Son of God, who is the 
Light of the World, sends His Spirit to many who 
have not seen His face nor heard His voice. Jesus 
says that every one who is of the truth will come to 
His light and will hear His voice. The truth-loving 
man will see and know and love Jesus when He is 
revealed. The attitude of such a man is like the 
attitude of the Gentile Cornelius who was ready 
to believe the gospel and to confess Christ as soon 



250 The Secret of Successful Life 

as they were made known to him. Not intellectual 
knowledge of a revelation which God has graciously 
given, but a heart ready to receive that revelation 
is what God first requires and approves. Not 
knowledge but love is the sign of life. 

Expressing the condition of eternal life in terms of 
natural theology and natural law, Saint Paul has 
said that the heavenly society will be composed of 
all "who by patient continuance in well-doing have 
sought for glory and honor and immortality." Ex- 
pressing the condition of eternal life in terms of 
action possible among all nations, Jesus has said that 
the eternal society will be composed of all who have 
lived lovingly and have given ministrations to them 
in need and thereby have been followers of Him 
who came not to be ministered unto but to min- 
ister. Expressing the condition of eternal life in 
terms of faith and knowledge, Jesus has said that 
eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom 
He has sent. 

This is surely a broad enough basis of eternal life 
for all men. All who bow before the majesty of 
moral truth, however revealed; all who believe and 
obey the truth, however made known; all who 
dwell in love and cherish a loving heart; all who, 
like Jesus, have the spirit of service and who accord- 
ing to strength and opportunity render ministry, will 
have a place in that perfect and permanent society. 

I am persuaded also that of those who live where 
the gospel is published, there are many who, evident- 
ly, are only babes in Christ. As flowers are set back 
and chilled in the spring time and blossoming is 



Eternal Life 251 



delayed by an unfavorable atmosphere, so the lives 
of many are limited by unfavorable circumstances. 
The atmosphere in which they live is so cold, spirit- 
ually, their own powers are so feeble, the burdens 
of their life are so heavy that they are hindered in 
growth. One may fain believe that many a har- 
rassed man, and many a troubled woman having 
lived under great limitations and with few oppor- 
tunities but neither denying nor doubting the love 
and wisdom of God but trusting in a very simple 
faith, will blossom out in fair beauty of soul, like 
a transplanted flower, when they are brought into 
the light and love of Christ in a fairer world. 

What the future life may be is not a matter of 
knowledge but of hope. 

An unhatched eagle has lungs fitted to breathe 
the air, eyes which will pierce space in glorious vis- 
ion, wings which will beat the air with strength, and 
all the organs necessary for its life when it shall 
leave the shell; but the unhatched eagle cannot con- 
ceive the form and nature of the world into which 
it is so soon to enter ; it could not conceive that 
world even though its mind were awake and intel- 
ligent. So we, though we possess all the powers 
capable of entering and enjoying the future life, can- 
not know now what its form and circumstance may 
be. 

The revelations given to us in the scriptures are 
adapted to our present condition. They are por- 
trayed in the imagery of things with which we are 
familiar. They are suggestive and satisfying. These 
revelations are worth our study. 



252 The Secret of Successful Life 

The future dwelling place, according to Jesus, 
will be a father's house. A father's house is a home. 
It is a place where one is loved for his own sake. 
It is a place where every want is anticipated and 
every desire gratified. It is a place of rest, shelter, 
friendship, and joy. 

The future dwelling place, according to Jesus* 
will be prepared for men. "J go," said Jesus to his 
disciples, "to prepare a place for you. And if I go 
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and 
receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there 
ye may be also/' As a bride may trust her hus- 
band to prepare a home for her, though it may be 
beyond the sea; so the believer may trust Jesus to 
prepare a home for him, though it be far beyond his 
sight. It will be a home prepared in every partic- 
ular to meet the nature and the wants of those who 
shall dwell there. 

The future dwelling place is described as a city. 
The children of faith, it is written, "look for a 
city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
maker is God." "Wherefore God is not ashamed 
to be called their God; for He hath prepared for 
them a city." This is a "great city and a holy, hav- 
ing the glory of God." This is a very suggestive 
title and figure. A city is the most complete place 
of abode for men which has been developed upon 
earth. A city is the place of greatest safety, con- 
venience, ministry, and comfort upon earth. A city 
is the most completely organized society. A city 
is a place where every want is anticipated, every 
hunger fed, every taste gratified, and the social 



Eternal Life 253 



nature satisfied. 

They who dwell in that future world shall be like 
Christ; and shall see Him as He is. Their bodies, it 
is written, ' 'shall be fashioned like unto His glorious 
body. ,, These bodies are described as incorrupti- 
ble, strong, perfect, and immortal. 

On the negative side, all the weaknesses, evils, 
sufferings, and sorrows of this present earthly life, 
shall have no place and shall not be found. "They 
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; 
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." 
"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain." 

On the positive side, they shall be clothed in 
beauty and endowed with every necessary power. 
They "shall be clothed with white robes," which 
suggest purity and beauty. And "the Lamb which 
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and 
shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." 

The activities and occupations of the future life 
are expressed by three significant terms. They wor- 
ship. They sing. They reign. 

They worship. Worship is the perception and 
admiration of physical beauty and the perception 
and adoration of spiritual excellence and glory. All 
the works of God in the entire universe will be seen 
in such clearness of vision that the perfection of 
form and radiancy of beauty will awaken constant 
delight and will evoke unceasing praise. God Him- 
self in the surpassing excellency of His glory will be 
so known and so loved as to evoke the joyful ador- 



254 The Secret of Successful Life 

ation of all saints so that they shall ever worship 
Him as the angels worship who say: "Blessing, 
and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and hon- 
our, and power, and might, be unto our God for- 
ever." 

They sing. Music is the language of the heart, 
the utterance of the emotions, the voice of the soul. 
Music speaks from the heart and speaks to the heart. 
Music is always pure. Song is music wedded to 
words. Song is the feeling and voice of the heart 
filling and expressing the thought of the mind. 
Song, therefore, is the highest and the most perfect 
expression and utterance of the whole personality. 
Song gives vent and voice and harmonious and per- 
fect form to all the feelings and inmost powers of 
the saints. Hence, they sing, saying, "Great and 
marvelous are Thy works, Lord, God Almighty; 
just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. 
Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy 
name? for Thou only art holy." 

These songs of the saints in the future life and the 
heavenly world will be like the voice of many wa- 
ters. In them, will be such sweetness and such 
unity that it will be as though the languages of 
every land and race speak in perfect harmony. 

They reign. Reigning suggests the exercise of 
power put forth in wisdom and in masterful ways. 
They who reign will find expression and scope for 
all their powers. Much of the greatest enjoyment 
in life comes through the use of power. Power in 
that future life will not be wasted and lost and leave 
weariness; but power will be put forth in wisdom 



Eternal Life 255 



and with delight, and will be used in regal and 
kingly ways for ends beneficent and good. Men 
will think and act and achieve with intelligence, ef- 
ficiency, and joy. "For the Lord God giveth them 
light: and they shall reign forever and ever." 

These figures of worship and song and reigning 
suggest that the eternal life, in its immortality, will 
be free from weakness, from weariness, and from 
pain. They suggest, also, that love and thought 
and the power of will shall find expression in ways 
congenial, delightful and full of joy. 

All who by faith have received God's greatest gift 
of eternal life in Jesus Christ and who, through that 
life, have controlled the flesh, and have overcome 
the world, and have conquered death will find, at 
last, that they have achieved success and are satis- 
fied. 

They who by faith in Christ learn from Him the 
spirit of sonship will be heirs with Him of God's 
glorious creation. All things are theirs; for they 
are Christ's; and Christ is God's. 

They will be a joy to themselves. They will be 
satisfied with their society. They will rejoice for- 
ever in the light and love of God. 



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